


Returned

by Vegorott



Series: Stolen [2]
Category: Video Blogging RPF, youtube - Fandom
Genre: Dark elements, Supernatural Elements, YouTubers - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-11-26
Packaged: 2019-01-05 10:47:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 21,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12188523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vegorott/pseuds/Vegorott
Summary: Three months have passed since the fight with Vince and everyone is trying to move on with their lives. Jack is struggling to move on as nightmares, flashbacks and learning more about himself than he ever dreamed of are preventing him from trying to feel normal again. With the help of an unexpected ally, Jack and the others will soon find that their world is not what they thought it was.





	1. Terror

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to the Stolen Series. Sorry for the long wait, but now everyone will get to learn about what happens next to Jack and his friends.

Jack was laying in the grassy field, arms tucked behind his head and he stared up at the sky, watching the clouds float by. He took in a deep and calming breath as he felt something press into his chest. A small smile appeared on his face as he saw the top of Singe’s head. He freed one of his hands and started playing with Singe’s hair, the soft locks slipped between his fingers. Signe looked up at Jack and stuck her tongue out at him. She adjusted herself so she could give Jack a quick peck on the lips before putting her head back down and nuzzling her face into the crook of Jack’s neck. Jack chuckled a little and returned to watching the cloud, rubbing Singe’s back as he did so. He was fully calm, his body was relaxed and everything felt right.

Jack and Signe both jerked up when a gunshot fired off nearby. 

“What was-” Jack stiffened as everything suddenly went gray. “No. No, no, no, no!” 

“Jack!” Signe’s cry made Jack face her and the man let out a shout when he saw that his girlfriend’s hands had holes in them and had blood gushing out of them. 

“Signe! Oh my God! We-”

“Why did you do this to me, Jack!?” Jack’s heart stopped when Signe started to cry. “Why did you do this!? What did I do wrong!?”

“I-I didn’t…” 

“Jack!” Signe disappeared after a blink and Jack started shouting again, grabbing at the blood-soaked ground. 

“Signe!” Jack cried. “Signe!” 

“You did this Jack! You did this!” Jack turned towards the voice and saw Vince. The man’s hands and one of his legs were caked in blood as well, eyes dark with anger. “If only you weren’t so selfish! If only you would have listened!” Jack started crawling backward on the ground, tears forming in his eyes. 

“But...But I just wanted-”

“You wanted to what!? Be the hero!? Save everyone!?” Vince started taking steps towards Jack, his body growing and growing as he got closer and closer. “Because of you, everyone got hurt! Mark could have died! Signe could have died! Everyone could have died and it would have been all your fault!” Jack couldn’t speak, his throat closed up and all he could think was  _ run.  _

Jack fumbled over as he started to go, slipping on the blood before he could fully take off, sprinting and having no idea where to go. 

He stumbled to a stop when he found himself surrounded by gray trees. Jack tried to turn back to leave but froze, seeing Mark in front of him now. Mark was gray and his body was deformed as if he was one of the creatures they had faced when they were in the other world. 

“M-Mark…” Jack whimpered. Mark opened his mouth and all that come out was a low groan of pain. Jack turned his head when he heard more groans and saw Wade and Bob walking towards him, both gray and deformed as well. Jack took a step back and felt himself hit something, he shook as he faced what he had hit. He jumped away when Felix tried to grab him. Jack started running again, not being able to face his friends without wanting to cry. “No…” Jack put his hands over his mouth when he found Signe. She was laying on the ground, face down. “Signe!” Jack went over to Signe and fell to his knees, gently turning his girlfriend over. Jack screamed when Signe let out a strangled groan, mouth broke open and gray ooze dripping from it. Jack heard the groans of his friends near him and he couldn’t move, he could barely breathe. He felt hands grab at him and a loud scream tore from his throat as his friends piled on top of him.

_ x~x~x _

Jack woke up to pain as he found himself laying on the floor of his bedroom, blankets wrapped around him. He struggled to breathe as panic filled his chest, the nightmare still fresh in his mind and he had trouble telling the difference between the dream and reality.

“I...I didn’t...I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.” Jack croaked out as he started to wheeze, tears streaming down his face. “I...I didn’t…” His entire body shook as he crawled along his floor, reaching his desk and grabbing his phone. Several sobs tore their way through Jack’s throat as he slowly dialed in a, now memorized, number. 

“Sup, man?” A low voice asked through the speaker. 

“M-Mark...I...”  

“Shit, not again.” There was some shuffling before Mark spoke again. “It’s okay, Jack. Everything is okay. Take a nice, deep breath.” Jack struggled to get the air into his lungs. “Let it out, nice and slow.” Several coughs came out of Jack as he tried his best to do what Mark said. “Keep doing that, in and out. In and out.” 

“I’m sorry,” Jack said softly after calming down, his chest aching. 

“You really need to talk to someone about this, Jack,” Mark stated, several clicking sounds following. 

“I’m fine. It’s just nightmares.” Jack laid himself down on the floor and stared up at the ceiling.   
“Thi is the fifth night in a row you’ve called me to get you breathing again and as someone who experiences night-terrors, these are more than just nightmares.” Mark had a hint of frustration in his voice. 

“I’ll get over it.”

“It’s been three months since we returned from Vince’s world, I don’t think you’re going to be able to just ‘get over’ this.” 

“I’ll be fine.” 

“Seán William McLoughlin! You know that you’re not going to be fine and I’m not going to just sit here and do nothing!” Mark snapped.

“Mark Edward Fischbach, I’m fine!” Jack snapped back, more humor in his tone than Mark’s. 

“Jack, seriously, you need help. I think you might have PTSD.” Jack stiffened a little. “Jack? You still there?” 

“I’m going to go-.”

“Don’t hang up on me, listen. I’m looking at the medical definition for PTSD and you fit it to a T. You’ve experienced some severe trauma and it’s affecting your daily life.”

“We all went through the bullshit that was Vince’s world.” Jack protested.

“But you were the one who shot a man three times, you saw your best friend get stabbed and had the fear of the people that you love and care for being killed. That would give anyone PTSD.”

“Like you said, you got stabbed, I shouldn’t complain about a couple nightmares.”

“I healed, wounds heal, they scar up and don’t affect you anymore. But what you’re experiencing can’t just scar over time, it needs help, professional help.” Mark’s voice was becoming more and more upset as he spoke. 

“I-” 

“When was the last time you replied to a comment or reblogged something or tweeted? Everyone’s noticing that you’re off in your newest videos. Things that used to make you excited to the point of bouncing doesn’t work anymore. You need to get help. You haven’t even talked to Signe about this.”  

“I don’t want her to worry.” 

“We’re all worried about you. We all want you to get better. We all want our old Jack back.” Mark’s voice cracked. “We don’t want you to suffer any more than what you already have.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Jack admitted. 

“Go talk to someone, please. Don’t do this for us, you need to do this for yourself. Please.” Jack rolled to his knees, eyes water as he listened to Mark’s pleas. 

“I...okay. I’ll try.” Jack rose to his feet, using the back of his hand to wipe his nose. “I’ll try, I promise.” 

“We’re all here for you, Jack. Trust me, we’ll always be here for you.” 

“You’re gonna make me cry.” Jack sniffed.

“Good, you can join me.” The two laughed and Jack rubbed at his eyes. 

“Looks like I’m getting an early start to my day.” 

“I’m sending you a link that I found. You made a promise, you better follow through or I’m showing up at your house and beating you up.” Mark light-heartedly threatened. 

“Yes, sir.” Jack chuckled. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye, bitch.”

“Bye, dick.” Jack tapped his thumb against the screen of the phone, pressing the ‘end call’ button. He moved the phone around his hand for a moment before pocketing it and letting out a loud sigh. A ping came from his laptop and Jack went over to his desk and sat down. He rapped his fingers along the desk for a little bit before opening Mark’s message, seeing the link in blue, screaming at him to click it and do what he knew was the right thing to do. 

Panic began to form in Jack’s chest again. What if he couldn’t get help? What if he doomed to always be like this? Would his friends give up on him? Would they think he wasn’t even trying? What if no matter how hard he tried, nothing would change. Should he even start something that he wasn’t even sure if it would actually work or not? 

Jack shook his head. If didn’t do this, Vince would win, Vince could be right and like hell, he was going to let that happen. 

“This is for me,” Jack said out loud before clicking the link. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully, this ends up like the previous story and I'm able to update at a consistent pace.


	2. Delusional

Jack saw in the hard chair of the waiting room, anxiety clawing at his chest and with every second that ticked by on the clock hanging in front of him, the more he wanted to run away. 

“Seán?” A young woman called out, clipboard in hand. 

“Um...h-here.” Jack awkwardly raised his hand before quickly lowering it. 

“Follow me please.” The woman said with a soft smile and waited till the man was on his feet before heading back down the hall she came from. Jack rubbed at the base of his thumb as he walked behind the woman. He stopped when she did. The woman gestured with her arm towards an open door and Jack lightly nodded before entering. “Take a seat wherever you want.” The woman stated as she closed the door behind her. 

Jack sat in the chair furthest from the door and looked around the room as the woman sat in the other chair. The walls were an off-white color and there were two framed pictures of rocks hanging on the wall next to him and a loud ticking clock in front of him. There was a computer that sat in the back corner of the room and a blank, blue screen stared at him. The desk had little nicknacks, one of which was a rock with googly eyes glued on it. Jack couldn’t prevent the words ‘pet rock named Steve’ from popping into his head. He adjusted himself in the over-plush chair and looked at the small table that rested against the corner that was between himself and the woman. There was a small box of sand with a small rake in it, a bowl filled with squishy balls and a box of tissues. 

“My name is Kelly Warren. How are you, Seán?” 

“Jack.” Jack corrected softly. “Everyone calls me Jack.”

“Okay.” The woman wrote something down on her clipboard and a small sharp pain went through Jack’s chest. “How are you?” 

“Fine.” Jack swallowed thickly as Kelly wrote more down. 

“What brings you here today?” Kelly asked as she kept writing. 

“Um...a friend sent me a link to your website and he suggested I get help,” Jack answered, playing with his fingers as he spoke. He was the literal opposite of comfortable as Kelly tilted her head and looked at him.  

“Why does your friend say you need help? Has something occurred?” 

“He says that I might have...uh...PTSD?” Kelly hummed and wrote, something Jack wished she wouldn’t do, but knew it was her job to do so, he was being evaluated to see if he needed therapy, she needed to keep track of everything. Didn’t make it suck less, though. 

“Now, what makes your friend believe that? Have you had any traumatic experiences in your life?” Kelly asked. 

“I shot a man three times.” Jack blurted out, his eyes going wide.

“May I ask why you shot the man? And why three times?” 

“He...he was threatening my friends and girlfriend.” Jack felt a pang of terror in his stomach as he remembered that day. “I-I had to stop him, he already stabbed one of my friends and he was going to hurt Signe again and I…” Jack cleared his throat. “I shot his leg so he couldn’t kill Mark and shot both of his hands so he couldn’t use them to hurt Signe.” 

“I’m assuming that Signe is your girlfriend,” Kelly said as a question. 

“Yeah.” Jack nodded.

“And how is your relationship?” 

“Fine.” 

“Is being intimate difficult for you because of this event?” 

“I...I mean, we’re fine.” Jack started moving his hands more as he spoke. He thought he couldn’t get more uncomfortable than he was before, but he was proved to be very wrong and he did not want to know what Kelly was writing this time. 

“And how are your relationships with your friends? You’ve mentioned a Mark? How is that?” Kelly looked at her clipboard. 

“It’s fine. I actually call Mark when I start to freak out after a nightmare.” Jack rubbed the back of his head. “I know I should talk to Signe, but I don’t want her to worry, I don’t want to scare her.” 

“Care to describe what these nightmares are?” 

“They usually start with me and Signe relaxing somewhere, a park, an open field or just at my house and then there’s a gunshot and everything goes to hell.” Jack shuddered a little, the newest nightmare still fresh in his mind. 

“How do you mean by ‘goes to hell’?” 

“I mean, literal hell. Everything becomes gray and Vince shows up and Signe either disappears or gets hurt and then disappears and then I find my friends all turned into these deformed gray monsters that want to kill me and I thought I was done with those damned things, but they haunt my dreams and harass me in the middle of the day when all I want to do is record my videos!” Jack was yelling by the time he was done. He took several deep breaths and slumped down, feeling terrible for raising his voice when he was already loud enough in general. 

“Two questions: Who is Vince? Is he the one you shot? And what do you mean by ‘those damned things’ when referring to ‘deformed gray monsters’?” Kelly was writing a lot as she asked her questions. 

“Yes, Vince is the man I shot, he’s also the one that tried to turn the world into his own personal playground. Did you not hear about what happened in L.A. three months ago?” Jack felt a little weird asking the question this time. 

“Nothing happened in L.A. three months ago, that I’m aware of,” Kelly responded. 

“Did they not have it in the news? The sky went gray and the gray monsters that I was talking about were summoned by Vince and we had to fight them.” Kelly only blinked at him. “Have you at least heard about the sinkhole that happened at one of the convention centers in L.A.?” Still no response. “I know it didn’t happen here, but that’s some serious news.” 

“Vince summoned the gray monsters?” Kelly went back to writing. 

“Yeah, he used the same magic that he used to send me, Mark, Felix, Bob and Wade to this world he created where everything was gray and there were these weird animal hybrids and the gray monsters that looked human and not at the same time.” Jack didn’t like the concerned look on Kelly’s face as she read over her notes. 

“And you’re having flashbacks of these...events?” 

“I guess, yeah, I mean every now and again I can still see the splattered body of one of the creatures after they fell off of the roof of a hotel.” Jack felt his stomach turn a little. “Or feel the murky water on my skin that I felt when I had to save Mark from drowning or smell the burning flesh of the elephant monster that I used a Molotov cocktail on in order to save me and Mark and Mark’s voice still rings in my head of him pleading for a way home and blaming me after the portal closed before we could get in and I know that it was my fault, if I hadn’t insisted on having a quick shot going in, we would have made it home sooner and I might have prevented him from getting stabbed and from the others getting hurt as well.” Kelly only nodded her head and went back to writing. “So..yeah...I have flashbacks if you wanna call them that.” Jack added, speaking softer than before. He sat in the painful silence as Kelly kept writing, humming her herself every now and again before continuing. She eventually stopped and lowered her pen, crossing her arms across the clipboard and leaning a little towards Jack.

“I believe that Alec would be the best fit for you,” Kelly stated before standing and going over to her computer. “He’s a specialist in schizophrenia and-”

“Wait, what!?” Jack shook his head in disbelief. “Schizophrenia? What are you talking about?” 

“To be blunt, you are clearly suffering from hallucinations to a severe degree and it might either be schizophrenia or a branch of it, he’ll surely be able-”

“I’m not having hallucinations! It happened! Call my friends, call fucking L.A.!” 

“Jack, please calm down.” 

“I came here to get help and you’re calling me delusional! You’re saying that everything I’ve gone through isn’t real! It is real! Mark still has the scars and Callie lives in my house!” 

“Callie?”

“My pet creature! They’re like a squirrel with one eye but they’re the sweetest pet you could have ever asked for.” Kelly turned back to the computer and clicked several links. 

“How are you Friday afternoons?” Jack let out a scoff. 

“If you believe that I’m going to stay here after listening to your bullshit, you’re the delusional one.” Jack stood up and started walking out. 

“Jack, wait-.” 

“You can fuck yourself,” Jack added before storming out of the room. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angry Jack is angry


	3. Alec

“She said I was crazy!” Jack huffed as he leaned back in his chair, Mark’s, Felix’s, Wade’s and Bob’s faces were on his computer screen. Callie was sitting next to the computer and watched the other men move, their eye wide with amazement. 

“She said you might have been schizophrenic, not crazy.” Bob corrected.

“I know, I know. I’m just a little pissed.” 

“A little?” Wade said with a raised brow. 

“I’m pissed off a lot!” Jack threw his hands in the air and spun around in his chair, slapping his hands down on his desk to stop himself. Callie let out a chirp and hopped off the desk, going over to a small bed in the corner of the room. “She told me that everything we went through was a lie, that the hell we experienced wasn’t real!” 

“It is weird that she hadn’t heard anything about the sinkhole. I know you don’t live in America, but I feel like that’s something that would be broadcasted on all news channels. It’s a great story to get views.” Mark said. 

“Doesn’t really work when apparently no one remembers what happened,” Felix muttered. “Every time I make a reference to that I get a shit ton of comments saying ‘that didn’t happen’ and ‘I live there and nothing like that happened’. It’s annoying as hell when no one believes you.” 

“It’s too much of a coincidence for literally everyone to forget about those days. Not everyone watches or reads the news, but almost everyone in L.A. should at least know about the gray sky or the sinkhole. It happened in that city, no matter how much you don’t watch the news, someone’s bound to talk about it near you or to you.” Bob stated. 

“Whatever, I don’t care anymore. I just wanted help and all I get is bullshit.” Jack grabbed his mug of coffee and took a long drink. 

“Just try a different place. Don’t give up because of one-” Jack ended the group call before Mark could finish, hating that he had but knowing he couldn’t handle the conversation anymore. He let out a grunt and put his forehead against his desk and groaned when he heard the ping. Jack glanced up and saw that Mark had sent him a message that only said ‘it’s for you’. 

“The fuck?” Jack said out loud when his phone started ringing, who was calling him at this hour? “Hello?”

“Seán McLoughlin?”

“Speaking.” 

“My name’s Alec and I’m from the-”

“I am not schizophrenic!” Jack snapped, not expecting himself to be so harsh. 

“I believe you and I also believe when you say you’re suffering from PTSD. I can assure you that I am the best suited to assist you.” Alec sounded unaffected by Jack’s yelling. 

“I am not listening to another ‘professional’ tell me that everything that happened to me was fake, that I made it up.”

“Like I said, I believe you.” 

“You…” Jack’s voice trailed off. 

“Give me a chance, come back and let the receptionist know that you wish to speak to Alec Lawson and I’ll explain everything. I’ll leave my day open for you to come in whenever you can.” Jack didn’t know how to respond. “Good night Mr. McLoughlin.” 

“I-” Jack stopped when he heard his phone say ‘call ended’. He lowered the phone and stared at the number that was used to call him. It wasn’t the same one he had dialed to make his appointment. Did Alec use his personal phone to contact him? Jack looked over at Callie and saw that they had their head tilted and was watching him. “Wanna go on a trip tomorrow, Callie?”

_ x~x~x  _

Jack kept peeking into his bag to make sure that Callie was fine. The creature was curled up into a ball and was napping on top of the sweater Jack had stuffed in there to make sure that they were comfortable. Callie was a little jittery on the bus ride over to the building to the point where Jack put his hand in his bag so he could pet the little creature. He was sure he looked strange to others, but he would have gotten stranger looks if her bag started chirping and a gray squirrel-like creature came out of it. 

“Seán?” Jack stood when he heard his name and lifted his backpack off of the ground, seeing Callie adjusting out of the corner of his eye. 

The man who had spoken his name reminded him of Bob if he had Mark’s physique and facial hair. His eyes were a deep blue similar to Jack’s and he wore a simple black shirt and jeans

“Follow me, please.” The man stated before turning around. Jack glanced down into his bag one more time before going down the hall as well, praying that the outcome of this visit is a lot better than the other one. “Have a seat.” Jack entered the room and saw that it looked like an empty office. A large desk in the center of the room, a chair on both sides and a window on the back wall. There were no decorations, no color to the walls, only a plate of cookies on the desk showed that the room was actually used. Jack sat in the chair in front of him and watched the man go around and sit as well. 

“Are you Alec?” Jack spoke after a long and awkward silence. 

“Yes.” Alec placed his elbows on his desk and rested his chin on his fists. 

“Aren’t you going to ask me why I’m here or something?” Jack struggled to not shake his legs from nervousness. 

“I already know everything, Kelly filled me in.” Jack shook his head a little at that statement. 

“Wait, I thought that information couldn’t be signed without written consent from the patient?” 

“Unless there is abuse or harm to a child, an elder or if the patient is at risk of harming themselves or others or if the one doing the examination is my student.” Alec grabbed one of the cookies from the desk and took a large bite. “She’s still a little stunned about the whole ‘go fuck yourself’ thing, but I found it hilarious and appropriate in your situation. I had to tell her things differently and I’ll explain all of that in a moment.” Alec chuckled a little and swallowed. 

“So...you believe me? You believe everything that I told Kelly? All of it?” Jack cocked his head. 

“Would you like a cookie?” 

“How does that-”

“Do you?“ Alec interrupted Jack and placed his feet on top of the desk, helping himself to another large bite of his own cookie. 

“I mean...yeah, but-” Jack’s mouth dropped open when Alec snapped his fingers and one of the cookies floated off of the plate and went over to him. Jack let out a strange sound as he took the cookie out of the air and held it. 

“Now do you understand?” Jack was still silent as he looked up from the cookie and started to stare at Alec. Callie hopped out of Jack’s bag and climbed up the side of the desk, sitting down in front of Alec and chirping happily as Alec petted the top of their head. “Shall we begin?” 


	4. CPT

“We’re still unsure where the source of magic comes from, they’re still looking into it.” Alec finished his long spiel, now standing at his window and looking out of it. Jack found himself frozen and numb in his chair.

There was some sort of society that kept magic a secret and they had power over every single form of government that there was in this world. They erased memories, killed people and tortured them to make sure that no one knew about magic except for those who possessed it. 

“How?” Jack managed to croak out.

“How, what?” Alec faced Jack. 

“How can this actually exist? This can’t be real, you’re fucking with me aren’t you?” 

“I think just looking at your friend will answer that question.” Alec went back over to his desk and sat down. Callie was napping in Jack’s lap and adjusted when Alec spoke about them. “The world is a strange place, you out of all people should know about this by now.” 

“If this...Society can take away memories from the entire world then why do me and my friends remember everything that happened to us?” Jack ran a hand over Callie’s back. 

“It is strange that they missed you guys, usually the only time memories can stay is if the person has magic themselves are they’re being protected by someone with magic and by the sounds of it, all of you are clean.” 

“You’re making it sound like it’s terrible to have magic, but you have it, you even proved it to me that you do.”

“Having magic is a blessing and a curse at the same time. While it’s nice to be able to just move something to you and to be able to heal someone who’s on the brink of death, it’s also terrible dealing with the aftermath of extreme usage of magic. It can drive you insane, it makes you question every single thought that you have ever had in your entire life. It enhances all forms of mental illness, making it far severe than what a magic-less person would experience and there’s no way for an average therapist to understand what’s going on and it can’t be fixed without magic. You have no control over anything if you’ve used too much magic at once. If the person keeps using magic over and over again with no breaks in between, they’re doomed to go clinically insane and that’s what Vince is currently going through.” Callie could feel Jack’s distress and woke up, rubbing their head against Jack’s hand in an attempt to calm his racing heart. 

“Vince…” Jack’s voice trailed off. 

“Vince is currently locked up in a high-security psychiatric ward that is specifically meant for magic users who have lost their ways. His recovery is right on track and we’re hoping that he’ll be able to be released within the month.” 

“You can’t let him out!” Jack’s shout made Callie squeak and jump out of his lap. “He tried to kill me! He tried to kill my friends!” 

“I said he’ll be released from the psychiatric ward, I don’t know about being released into the public. That is up to the Society.” 

“He shouldn’t-”

“Let’s begin working on your PTSD, shall we?” Jack was a little shocked at the sudden subject change and watched as Alec pulled out several sheets of paper from his desk. “We’ll be using a CPT process.” Alec slid a paper over to Jack. “CPT is ‘Cognitive Processing Therapy’ which will include elements of CBT or ‘Cognitive Behavioral Therapy’. The average length is twelve sessions but can last longer is we need to take breaks or need to discuss other events that occur during the CPT.” Several more pages were handed to Jack and the man just stared at all of them, understanding what was being said, but not knowing how to react. “We’ll be starting our first official session next week, which will be the introduction session, I will be explaining how the full process works and you’ll be given homework between each session.” Jack simply stared with his mouth opened. “Does the same time next week work for you?” Jack nodded his head a little. “Fantastic, I’ll get that setup and…” Alec held out the word as he pulled out a pen and a card and wrote on it. “This will help you remember when your next appointment is.” Alec stood back up and went to his door, opening it. Jack blinked slowly a couple of times before picking up Callie and putting them in his bag, getting up himself and stepping out of the room. Alec walked Jack down the hall and into the waiting area. “I’ll be seeing you next week, Jack.” 

“I didn’t tell you-”

“Remember, Kelly told me everything. Take care of yourself, don’t do anything stupid.” Alec winked before leaving. Jack let out several confused sounds, not having a single clue on what just happened. 

“Do you need help, sir?” The woman working behind the desk asked. 

“No, no, I’m good...I’m all good.” Jack wandered out of the building, mind foggy as he rode the bus back to his home. 

Jack dropped the papers onto his desk and plopped himself down in his chair, hearing that Callie had gotten out of his bag and was helping themselves to the seeds and nuts that Jack had left out in a bowl for them. 

“Callie, do you have any idea what the hell just happened back there?” Jack looked over at Callie and the creature simply shook their head, telling Jack that they were as clueless as he was. “Do you think it’s gonna work?” Callie placed the nut that they were eating down and they climbed up the desk and sat in front of Jack, nodding their head. “You’re a little cutie, you know that right?” Callie nodded again and used one of their paws to fluff out their ear. “Don’t get too cocky, now.” Jack chuckled as Callie shook their fur and hopped off his desk, returning to their food. “I should probably call Signe.” Jack grabbed his phone. “Actually, I want to talk to her about this in person.” He corrected as he started texting. 

“I bet she’d appreciate that.” Jack flailed in fear when someone spoke behind him. He quickly got up and faced the voice, heart threatening to burst from his chest when he saw who it was. 

“Get the fuck out of here!” Jack screamed, grabbing his computer mouse and chucking it at Vince. Jack’s throat closed up when the mouse went through Vince and slammed into the wall, breaking into several pieces. 

“Hope that wasn’t expensive.” Vince laughed. 

“Get out!” 

“Or what? Are you gonna shoot me again? I bet you’re just begging to shoot someone, anyone again.” Vince started moving towards Jack. 

“Don’t you dare come any closer!” Jack threatened, looking at Callie and wondering why they weren’t attacking or at least showing Vince their teeth. 

“You miss the feeling, don’t you? That rush of adrenaline and power over the person you shot down. I bet you miss the sight of the blood or the strong smell of it. I bet you’re craving to have that in front of you again.” Vince held his hands up, showing that there was blood seeping out of bullet wounds. “I bet seeing this gives you so much joy.” 

“No...no…” Jack gasped for air as he stumbled back, hitting his wall. 

“You should be the one in a psychiatric ward, not me! You’re the one getting off on this!” 

“I’m not…” Jack’s body started to tremble. 

“You’re a sick fuck! Everything that is happening to you and the others is all your fault! Why did you have to do this to everyone, Jack!? Why did you have to hurt them!?” 

“I didn’t!” Jack screamed and launched himself at Vince, letting out a gasp of pain when he flew through the man and slammed into the wall, face-first. Jack held his now bleeding nose and turned back around, stomach sinking when he found that Vince was gone. “He wasn’t there at all...was he?” He asked Callie, receiving a head nod from the creature before they went on top of Jack’s desk, grabbed a tissue and returned to Jack with it. “Thank, Callie.” Jack took the offered tissue and cleaned himself up. He kept his nose closed with the tissue as he picked up his phone and called Signe. “Hey...would you mind coming over? I’ll explain when you get here...love you.” Jack hung up the phone and he sat back down on the ground. Maybe he could call Alec and make the next appointment sooner.


	5. Day 1

Jack sat at his kitchen table, rubbing his hands together with excitement as a large plate of pancakes was placed in front of him. He quickly grabbed a fork and started shoveling them into his mouth, eating as if he’s been starved for weeks. Signe said nothing as she sat in the seat across from her boyfriend, worry in her eyes. Jack rocked his head back and forth as he chewed, stopping when he saw Signe. After a quick swallow, he cleared his throat. 

“Morning,” Jack said softly and felt his heart twist a little when Signe’s lower lip started trembling. “Signe, are you okay?”

“Are you?” 

“Signe, I-”

“What happened to explaining it to me, Sean!?” Jack could tell that the anger was from fear and worry, but it didn’t make Signe’s yelling hurt less. “I came over in the middle of the night because you called me because I wanted to make sure that you were okay and all I see is you bleeding and sobbing! What’s going on!? You haven’t been yourself since you shot Vince!” Jack dropped his fork and crossed his arms. “You haven’t kissed me or even held my hand and when was the last time we had a proper conversation?” Signe was no longer yelling, but her words were still harsh. “What happened to the man I love?” 

“I’ve wanted to tell you, I have, I...I just didn’t want you to worry.” Jack admitted, staring down. 

“Of course I’m going to worry, I’m your girlfriend, that’s my job. I want to be there for you, I want to help you when things get hard and I want you to be there for me too.” Jack’s eyebrows went up and he looked back at Signe. “It’s been hard on all of us, Jack. I’ve had nightmares and Marzia can’t look at the color gray without wanting to cry and Felix wanting to vomit. Bob sleeps with a bat near him and Wade has a knife under his. Molly and Mandy get scared anytime that they can’t see Bob or Wade. Mark hasn’t been sleeping and neither has Amy but we’ve all been talking to each other and helping each other and we haven’t heard anything from you.” Jack rubbed his arms, he had no idea how much the others were struggling as well. “We understand that everyone needs their own time, that everyone needs to take care of themselves first but you can’t get help unless you allow others to help you.” 

“I’m sorry...I’m so sorry.” Jack shook his head. 

“Don’t apologize, just tell me what’s going on.” 

“It’s a long story.” 

“I don’t have any plans today.” 

“Alright.” Jack got comfortable and told Signe everything in full detail.

_ x~x~x _

Jack felt as if his brain would explode from information overload and he was shocked he didn’t receive a cut on his fingers from all of the papers he was given. Progressive muscle relaxation, mindful exercises, grounding techniques, trauma reactions that lead to PTSD and the beginning of stuck points...he wasn’t even sure what half of this stuff meant.

“You don’t need to worry about the stuck point log at the moment. It’s there just in case you have something that is preventing you from doing your assignments or causing your symptoms to worsen and anything that you write down we will discuss and work through.” Alec stated, finishing off the last cookie on his desk. Jack couldn’t help from thinking how the man was able to eat so many cookies and be so fit, but then again he ate his fair share of sweets and was a fairly thin guy. “Any questions or concerns? How are you feeling?”

“Overwhelmed,” Jack admitted. 

“This is a long and hard process to go through, but I guarantee that if go through with CPT, you will get better. You won’t be able to completely return to how you were before the traumatic event, but you will have the skills to work through any harsh situation on your own and you can always call or come back if needed. It might say twelve weeks, but it can be as long as you need me.” 

“Thank you…” 

“Is there anything else you need?” 

“A nap.” Jack chuckled weakly. 

“Understandable, exhaustion is very common after a session and there’s nothing wrong with taking a short nap in the middle of the day, but don’t rely on it too much, that’s not healthy mentally or physically.” Jack sometimes wished that not everything he said in her was taken so literally, but Alec’s job was to analyze everything he said and did to make sure he was getting better, didn’t make it any less strange though. 

“Okay.” 

“Does next week at the same time work for you?” Alec asked as he clicked the mouse-pad of a laptop he pulled out of his desk. 

“Yep.” Jack nodded his head. 

“Now, your first assignment is to write out, with pencil, why you believe this happened to you and how this has impacted your beliefs about yourself, other and the world in general.” Jack looked at Alec and blinked a few times. “Is something wrong?” 

“No, no, I can do that...but...could you write that down for me? I’m worried I might forget what you specifically want.” Jack scratched the back of his head. 

“No problem, that’s a common request as well.” Alec started typing away on the laptop. Jack started playing with his fingers while he waited, the silence killing him. He stiffened when he heard the sound of a printer going off, but he couldn’t see one. Jack's eyes widened with shock when Alec pulled open another drawer and pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to him. 

“Your printer is in your desk? How much do you have in there? How much can fit?” 

“Magic.” Was all Alec said before standing. “Is there anything else you need?”

“I’m all good.” Jack stood as well. “Callie, we’re leaving.” He called to the small creature who was resting at the window, the sunlight keeping their fur warm. Callie let out a chirp and went over to Jack crawling into the back and going straight back to napping on top of Jack’s sweater. 

“I’m still unsure how Callie is able to function in the real world so well. Usually, creatures created in a magic-user’s realm can’t survive away from there, they need magic.” Alec chewed at his lip. “I should look into that.” 

“As long as you don’t take Callie away or hurt them, you can do whatever.” Jack folded up the paper with his assignment on it and tucked it into his jean pocket as Alec went to the door and opened it. 

“The worst I’ll do to Callie is take a blood sample if it’s needed,” Alec stated while walking with Jack down the hall. “Do you wish to have an appointment card?”  

“Actually, that would be great.” Jack watched Alec grab a card and scribble down the date and time on it before handing it to him. 

“I’ll see you next week, Jack,” Alec said and walked away.

“See, ya.” Jack placed the card in his jean pocket as well before leaving the building.   

Jack sat on the bus, adjusting to allow an older woman to sit next to him before the bus took off. He gave the woman a smile before settling down and staring out the window. After a good minute of doing nothing, Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out the paper with his assignment written on it. 

_ Write at least ONE page that describes: Why do you think this even happened to you and how this event has impacted your beliefs about yourself, others and the world in general. Try to focus on beliefs about safety, trust, power/control, esteem, and intimacy.  _

Jack slowly refolded the paper and returned it to his pocket, mind racing.  __ ****


	6. Shaken

“This Alec guy sounds really suspicious,” Felix stated as he scratched his chin, his small face on the screen went blurry for a moment. 

“He’s just doing his job.” Bob defended the therapist while Felix adjusted his settings. 

“He just gives me a weird vibe,” Wade said. 

“You haven’t even met him.” Mark clicked his mouse a few time and huffed when the golf ball didn’t go into the hole. 

“He looks like if we all had a love child,” Jack said and let out a groan as he stretched. 

“How would that even work? Could five men-”

“Please, don’t try to apply science to Jack’s statement.” Mark interrupted Bob. 

“Can’t blame me for being curious.” Bob shrugged. “Oh, come on!” He added after his golf ball went off the map. 

“Hah!” Wade teased. “Fuck!” He cursed after his own golf ball went off the map as well. 

“Karma, bitch!” Bob laughed, making the others do so as well. 

“We should actually start recording,” Mark said. 

“You just want me to leave.” Felix stuck out his tongue. 

“You can stay,” Jack said. 

“I-”

“Felix?” Marzia appeared on Felix’s screen. “Are you playing with the boys?” She asked, peeking over Felix’s head. 

“I was actually about to log off, they need to start recording,” Felix answered, smiling a little when Marzia wrapped her arms around him. 

“Hi, Jack. How are you?” Marzia asked, tilting her head a little. “I heard you were seeing someone to help you, how’s that going?” 

“Signe told you?” Jack raised a brow. 

“Nope, this one did.” Marzia patted a hand on Felix’s chest. 

“She’s my girlfriend, I can’t leave her out of the loop.” Felix protested when Jack gave him a glare. 

“Wait, were we not supposed to tell our partners?” Wade scratched the back of his head. “Molly’s filled in too.” 

“And Mandy,” Bob added.

“I talked to Amy the moment you told me what you were doing.” Mark chuckled weakly. Jack just crossed his arms and huffed. “You mad?”

“No, annoyed. I’m going to give all of you a kick in the butt next time we get together.” Jack wiggled a finger to show that he was joking. 

“Maybe at-” Wade was cut off by a scream. 

“Signe!” Jack scrambled to his feet and fell over when everything started shaking.

“Marzia, hold on!” Felix shouted while the others were yelling as well. Jack struggled to get to his feet and he left his room. 

“Signe! Signe, where are you!?” He called out. 

“Get away from me, you freak!” Signe screamed, giving Jack a clue to where she was. He rushed towards the kitchen, where he believed the voice came from and saw that one of the gray creatures from Vince’s world was trying to attack Signe. The woman had a knife in her hand and was waving it at the creature, using the counter to keep herself balanced.

“Back off!” Signe slashed the blade across the monster’s stomach and dark gray ooze came out of the wound, but the creature seemed unaffected by the injury.

Jack quickly ran over and grabbed the creature from behind and threw it back and away from Signe. He grabbed Signe by the wrist of the unarmed hand and lead her out of the room, he moved Signe behind him and kicked a different creature away from them. Jack heard Signe screech and when he turned he saw that there was another creature but it had stumbled back a little and the knife was now plunged deep into its chest. Signe was stunned and Jack had to wrap his arms around his girlfriend in order to get her to start running again. 

“What’s happening!?” Signe cried after they busted through the front door of the house. 

“I honestly have no idea!” Jack held Signe’s hand as the two ran away from the house. “You have to be fucking me!?” Jack screamed when he saw more gray creatures heading towards them from down the street. 

“What are those things!?” A man yelled from the front of the house across from Jack’s.

“They’re disgusting!” The woman with him added. One of the creatures stopped and stared at the two adults. 

“Honey...go back inside.” The man stepped in front of his partner as the creature began heading towards them. 

“Both of you, get inside!” Jack yelled. “Get in!” He screamed when the man hesitated. “You, ugly, fuck!” Jack grabbed a stone that was on the ground and threw it at the creature before taking off with Signe again. 

“Where do we go? Do we fight them like before? That didn’t end well, but-” Signe stumbled to a stop and almost ran into Jack when the man froze. “What...oh God…” Signe whimpered when she saw a large herd of gray creatures, all slowly heading towards them and blocking all exits. 

“I have to be dreaming...I have to be…” Jack swallowed thickly. “Please let me be dreaming.” 

“Jack, we have to do something...Jack?” Signe hugged Jack’s arm. “Jack!” She screamed when the creatures started sprinting, closing the gap more and more with each second passing by. Jack turned towards Signe and hugged her, covering her body with his own and they ended up balling up on the ground. “Ja-” Signe stopped when she felt a sudden surge of heat. Everything was silent, the air felt still...is this what death feels like? 

“Signe…” Jack rubbed Signe’s back with his hands. “We’re at the house? We’re in my room?” Signe lifted her head and was shocked to see that Jack was right. “What happened.” 

“Oh. My. God.” Signe said softly, a realization kicking in. “I didn’t think it was real.” 

“What wasn’t real? What am I missing?” 

“You have magic!” Signe blurted out. 

“I-”

“I can’t fucking believe it.” A voice said, filled with disappointment. Jack glared daggers at Vince and held Signe tightly. “How, in the actual hell?” Vince scoffed, pacing a little. “That explains the lack of memory loss and Callie surviving and Mark healing so quickly.”

“Get out of my house,” Jack growled. 

“I’m not here, dumbass.” Vince huffed.

“Get out!” Jack screamed. 

“Hey now, no need to get pissy, magic-buddy.” Vince teased. 

“I am not your buddy.”

“Trust me, it won’t be long till you’re in here with me and I look forward to your visit. I bet you have so many questions.” Vince let out a loud laugh. “Bye-Bye.” Vince vanished after snapping his fingers. 

“Jack…” Singe’s question was left in the air. 

“I don’t know, Signe. I probably should see him.” 

“I’m coming with you.”

“But-”

“Do you really think you can stop me?” Signe asked with a smirk. 


	7. Vince

Jack paced in his room, phone in hand and heart racing. He knew that the moment Alec answered his question, he can never go back and he would end up facing one of the hardest things in his life.

Vince.

Jack needed to see him, speak to him, figure out what the hell was happening and how he was able to summon his creatures while in the asylum. 

“Fuck it.” Jack dialed the number and listened to the dial tone while waiting for Alec to pick up.

“Hello?” Alec’s voice was lower and rougher than normal.

“Did I wake you?” Jack lost all confidence he just had.

“I simply dozed off while watching a show. Do you need something?” 

“I...I have a question.” Jack said softly, tucking the phone between his head and shoulder while he picked at his fingernails. 

“About?”

“Vince.” Jack heard Alec grunt a little and some ruffling, he assumed that Alec was sitting up or getting something. 

“Fill me in,” Alec stated after a clicking sound. 

“Well…” Jack wasn’t sure where to start or how to explain it. “I just need to know where Vince is.” He blurted out, getting straight to the point. 

“Why?” Alec sounded unaffected by the question. 

“His creatures appeared yesterday, they were attacking me and my girlfriend and I need to talk to him. And I know it wasn’t a flashback, Signe remembers it and my kitchen knife is missing.” Jack added the last part after a brief pause, knowing Alec would have asked. 

“Are you sure you want to see Vince? Seeing him could be triggering and-”

“Isn’t part of CPT facing what caused your PTSD?” Jack fired.    
“Yes, but-”

“Either you tell me where he is or I’ll do something stupid and get sent there myself.” Jack had no idea how he would do that, but he was sure he’d find a way. 

“By the sounds of it, there’s no talking you out of this.” Alec sighed. 

“I have to do this,” Jack stated.

“Be careful.” 

_ x~x~x  _

Jack was unable to prevent the hint of jealousy and anger that made him glare at the man who was patting Signe down. He and Signe had made it to the psychiatric ward and Alec managed to pull a few strings to get them in, Jack wasn’t sure what he said, but he didn’t care at the moment. He was here to see Vince and get the answered he needed.

“On edge?” Signe asked when she returned, snapping Jack from his thoughts.  

“Huh?” 

“You don’t usually get that jealous look with others unless you’re on high alert,” Signe explained. 

“Yeah, sorry. It’s just...well...”

“No need to say more.” Signe wrapped her arm around Jack’s and gave her boyfriend a big smile, calming Jack down a lot. 

“Follow me.” The man who had checked then said, turning and walking away without making sure Jack and Signe heard him. “You will be allowed five minutes with the inmate or ‘patient’ as Dr. Carver likes to put it.” The man had a huff in his voice at the end of his statement as they reached a door that had ‘113’ on it in bold, block lettering. “You will be safe, the inmate is unable to cast any harmful magic outside of his room. If he could cast magic.” The man chuckled and opened the door. Jack and Signe shared looks and entered the room “Five minutes.” The man repeated before slamming the door shut, leaving them in the darkness. Jack and Signe flinched a little when some lights flicked on, showing them what the room held. 

They found themselves looking into a glass-like wall, the other side holding what looked like a basic bedroom. A bed, dresser, and desk with a chair and a connecting door that was most likely the bathroom. Jack’s entire body tensed up when Vince spun around in the desk chair to face them. 

“Hello, Jack-a-boy.” Vince chuckled. 

“Do not call me that,” Jack said harshly. 

“Why the mean tone? I’m not the one who destroyed the other’s hands.” Vince held up his well-bandaged hands. “I can’t use them anymore, you destroyed all the nerves in them and I can’t heal them since, well, you know.” Vince crossed his arms and leaned back. 

“I don’t get it,” Signe whispered to Jack.

“Did you really not tell your girlfriend anything?” Vince scoffed. 

“I don’t understand what you’re hinting at either,” Jack stated. 

“Really? You obliterated my hands, where the majority of magic casting is done and you had no idea that was the case?” Vince let out a laugh and spun himself in a circle. “Either you’re more conniving than I thought or you got a lucky guess,” Jack said nothing. “The heat of the moment probably gave you more intelligence, we all know you tend to lack in that department.” Vince teased. 

“If I can recall correctly, you’re the one in an insane asylum, not Jack.” Signe defended Jack, releasing his arm and stepping closer to the glass. “You’re the one who was stupid enough to mess with us.” 

“Such a feisty little girl, I bet she’s fun in the bedroom.” Vince wiggled his eyebrows. 

“Shut your fucking mouth about her!” Jack snapped, getting closer to the glass as well. “I thought you were supposed to be shy, was that all an act!?” 

“Anger changes a person. You should know.” Vince stood up and walked over to the glass. “When everything you believed to be true is proven to be a lie when you learn that no one in this world gives a shit about you and every nice person is a fraud, it changes you, it makes you become the thing you hate and then you learn that you fucking love it.” Vince laughed a little at the last part. “You love the feeling of rage in your heart, it gives you the confidence to be the person you could only dream of being. No more stuttering, no more holding back, I don’t give a fuck anymore and it’s the greatest thing ever. So, I guess I can thank you for that, Jack. You’ve made me a new person.” 

“You’re still you. All you’ve done is show who you really are. You’re not holding back the pathetic, vile being that you are.” Signe spat while Jack rubbed at his face. 

“If you can say that about me, then you can say that about your boyfriend.” Vince pressed a hand against the glass. “He acts like he’s innocent, but he’s just as pathetic and vile as I am.”

“Shut up! Jack is nothing like you! He actually has a heart! You’re-” Signe stopped when Jack placed a hand on her shoulder. 

“How did you get your creatures to attack us if you can’t get your magic and how the hell have you been in my room?” Jack asked in a steady voice. 

“What are you talking about my creatures? They’re all dead, you killed them. I can’t make more of them without my hands.” Vince stated. “Spoiler alert, other magical beings can make those creatures too.” Jack stiffened. “Looks like I’m not the only one you’ve pissed off.” Jack struggled to find words. “Also, I wasn’t really in your room, my consciousness was, but my body wasn’t, it’s one of the easiest spells to cast and you don’t need much from your hands to cast it.”

Jack didn’t hear Vince, his mind was racing. Someone else who sees him worthy of attacking? Jack could still barely believe that Vince hated him, but another one?  What did he do? When did he do it? What was he missing? 

“Time’s up.” The man from before said as he threw open the door, Jack still lost in his own thoughts. 

“Don’t be a stranger.” Vince sang as Jack was lead out of the room. “And tell Alec I say, hi.” Jack stopped, turned and stared at the now closed door. Alec? 


	8. Honesty

“Hello, this is Seán McLoughlin and I would like to cancel my appointment with Alec,” Jack stated into the phone, sitting on his kitchen table. “No, I do not wish to reschedule, goodbye.” He hung up the phone before the receptionist could say anymore. Jack let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead. “I could have used that insurance on a real doctor.” 

“How do you know that Alec is working with Vince?” Mark asked from the laptop that was on top of the counter in front of Jack. 

“Why would Vince bring him up if they weren’t?” Felix asked back, voice cutting off a little as he adjusted his microphone. 

“The way he said it made it sound like he knew Alec very well,” Jack added.

“Vince might just be fucking with you,” Wade suggested. “He’s clearly psychotic and since he’s able to have his conscious be wherever he wants, he probably overheard you talking about or to Alec. It’s not hard to believe that Vince would try to use that against you.” 

“That actually makes a lot of sense.” Bob agreed.

“I only act dumb for the views.” Wade chuckled. 

“Sure you do.” Mark teased. 

“Hey, rude.” Wade scoffed with a smile. 

“Why did Alec let you know where Vince is?” Felix wondered out loud, cutting off the mild laughter the other men were having. 

“I asked and I was a stubborn ass about it,” Jack answered, trying to figure out what Felix was saying. 

“How many times did you really ask? Or did you only have to be stubborn for a second before he caved?” Jack raised his brows in realization. “He’s a professional, it would take a whole hell of a lot to make him give up confidential information.” 

“We’ll deal with that later, what we need to worry about is who sent those gray creatures after Jack and Signe. If it wasn’t Vince, who else could it be?” Bob said. 

“And why would they suddenly take them all away and bring Jack and Signe back home?” Mark added.

“I did that last part,” Jack said softly. 

“What?” The four other men said in unison. 

“I mean, I don’t know if I got rid of them, but we’re pretty sure I was the one who teleported me and Signe back to my room.” Jack picked at his finger. 

“So, what you’re saying is-”

“You’re magical!?” Felix’s shout cut off Wade’s comment. 

“I guess.” Jack shrugged. “According to Signe, I was the one who healed Mark so quickly.” 

“Holy shit.” Bob gawked.

“Thank, man...I think.” Mark said. 

“I have no idea how to control it and the only other magical people that I know are Vince and Alec and Vince is a major douche and I don’t trust Alec anymore...” Jack’s voice trailed off when his phone started ringing. “Well, speaking of the devil.” 

“Put him on speaker, we’re here for you,” Felix said. Jack took a deep breath, cleared his throat and then answered his phone. 

“Jack? Why did you cancel your appointment? Is everything okay? Is something happening?”  Alec’s voice had concern in it. 

“Why are you working with Vince!? Why have you been lying to me!?” Jack snapped, voice a lot louder than intended. 

“I’m not working with Vince, but I guess you could say I’m working for him since-”

“So, you’re his henchmen!? His fucking lackey!? Are you even a real doctor!? Have you been trying to make me worse this entire time!? Why would you work-”

“I’m his therapist as well.” Jack stopped, somehow understanding Alec through his screams. 

“His therapist?” Jack repeated. 

“Most therapists have more than one patient at a time, Jack. I’ve been trying to help Vince ever since that day and he’s made zero progress. I’m doing everything that I physically, mentally and magically can to help him and I’ve seen nothing come out of it. I fear that he may be too far gone and I don’t want that to be so, no doctor ever wants to believe that they can’t help their patients, our entire existence is to help others  and if we can’t help them, then why are we here?” Jack heard a creak and saw that Signe was standing at the end of the kitchen, sorrow, and empathy in her eyes. “But with what I’ve already seen with you, I know that you will get better, you will get through this, but you need to keep seeing me, you need to attend your appointments and do the assignments because I do not want you to end up like Vince. I need you to tell me everything.” Jack looked back at his computer and saw that his friends had a wide variety of facial expressions, showing what they were thinking. Mark was pleading with Jack to do what Alec says, Wade looked unsure, Bob was stuck in the middle of which way to go and Felix looked unconvinced. “Jack? Are you still there? Jack?” 

“Yeah, I’m here.” Jack chewed the inside of his lip. “I need you to answer a question for me before I decide.” 

“What is it?” 

“Why did you let me know where Vince was so easily?” Jack heard Alec sigh. 

“I was hoping that seeing the person who he hurt the most would affect Vince in some way and that maybe seeing Vince would make you fully trust me, knowing that you could end up like that if you didn’t continue getting help while you’re still sane,” Alec stated.

“You’ve been planning this since our first meeting, haven’t you?” 

“Yes,” Alec admitted. “I’ve worked with people like you, people who were suffering to a very similar degree and usually seeing the one who caused their harm is the final setting stone to getting helped.” 

“I’ll come back, I’ll do everything you say, but under one condition.” 

“Yes?”

“No more lying to me. No more hiding things. No more planning things behind my back. You are you be honest and straight to the point with me.” There was a pause before Alec spoke. 

“You have my word.” 

“I’ll see you Friday,” Jack said before hanging up, setting his phone down and groaning. “I’m ready for a nap.” He said as Signe walked over to him. 

“I’m proud of you.” Signe gave Jack a kiss on the cheek.

“Ew!”

“Gross!”

“Get a room!” Mark, Wade, and Bob all teased while Felix scratched the top of his head. 

“I still don’t like him.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking of doing an Antisepticeye story either soon or after this story is finished, thoughts?


	9. Exposed

Jack sat on the bus, mind lost as he thought about the session he just completed. He thought that Alec would just read his assignment about why he believed this happened, but Alec made Jack read it out loud instead. It was one thing to write it down. Speaking it gave the writing a whole new meaning. He now had to write down an event for every day until his next appointment next week, his goal was to make at least one of them about the trauma and Jack had a bad feeling that he would forget to do them due to his hectic schedule. 

“Excuse me, sir, but I think your phone is going off.” A soft, feminine voice spoke to him. 

“Huh?” Jack’s voice was on vibrate and in his pocket, he would feel it going off. He saw that the woman was glancing down at his bag and that was when he heard a chirping coming from it. “Oh, pardon me.” Jack chuckled nervously and reached into his bag. He saw that Callie was getting jittery, but stopped their sounds when Jack began petting her, calming her. “In-laws.” Jack lied with a weak laugh, getting a laugh from the woman as well. 

The bus has stopped and Jack watched several more people board. He noticed that one woman had a swollen stomach and winced a little as she took the last step up. Jack assumed that she was either pregnant or just in a lot of pain. There were no free seats and no one else had gotten up so Jack rose to his feet and offered the woman his seat, picking his bag up. 

“Thank you.” The woman said with a kind smile and sat down, letting out a sigh of relief. Jack nodded his welcome and held onto the railing as the bus took off. After a few moments of riding, he heard Callie chirping again. 

“The in-laws again?” The woman from before teased. 

“Yep, they just can’t leave me alone.” Jack made sure he was balanced before reaching into his bag, petting Callie again. They were acting strange, usually, once the ride started, they’d nap until Jack got into his home, but they couldn’t stay still or quit. 

“Shit!” Jack heard the bus driver curse before the bus suddenly stopped and sent Jack flying to the ground, his bag going further than him and knocking Callie out of it. 

“What is that!?”

“Oh my God!” 

“Is that a rat!?” 

“Callie! Come here!” Jack crawled after the creature and Callie took off, terrified. 

“Someone kill it!” Someone screamed as Callie ran under their feet, going along the seats. 

“They’re fine, they’re just scared!” Jack tried to talk some sense into the people of the bus, but no one was listening. 

“I got it!” A large man grabbed Callie by the tail and lifted them up. 

“Don’t hold them like that!” Jack snapped. 

“Is this thing your pet?” The man asked. 

“Yes, they are. Please give them back before you hurt them.” Jack pleaded, holding his hands out. 

“Why the hell would you keep a mutated rat? It’s probably filled with disease, you’re probably dying as we speak and you’re killing all of us with your disease breath.” The man started to swing Callie.

“Jesus, fucking, Christ! Don’t do that!” Jack tried to grab Callie, but the man yanked his hand away. 

“Or what?” Jack didn’t get to answer before Callie let out a screech and clawed the man’s hands. The man yelled in pain and dropped Callie. The creature jumped on top of one of the seats and hissed at the man, baring their sharp teeth at him. 

“Or that.” Jack huffed and walked over to Callie, the people around the creature having gotten up and ran off to the other side of the bus. “It’s okay, buddy.” Jack scratched Callie behind the ear. Callie leaned into the hand and chirped. “Here’s a lesson for you,” Jack stated as Callie jumped up to his shoulder. “Don’t be a dick.” Jack grabbed his bag and got off of the bus. 

“I swear that I saw someone!” The bus driver was yelling at a man. A group of people had gathered nearby and were whispering to each other.

“Did you hit them?” The man asked.

“I thought I did! He ran out in front of my bus and then he was gone. People don’t just disappear.” Jack placed Callie back into his bag before going over to the bus driver and man. 

“I’m sorry to intrude, but could you tell me what this man looked like?” Jack asked. 

“Why do you need to know!? How-”

“Were his hands bandaged?” Jack interrupted the bus driver. 

“His hands?” The driver scratched the top of his head. “Yeah, but what does-”

“Thank you.” Jack turned around and walked away, taking a moment to see which street he was on before heading home, taking out his phone and calling Signe. 

“Hi, Jack. How was your appointment?” Signe answered the phone. 

“Vince just tried to kill me,” Jack said after checking to make sure no one was near. 

“What!?” 

“I mean, I think he did or something. I was on the bus heading home when it suddenly stopped, sending me to the ground and knocking Callie out of my bag.” Jack slipped his bag over his shoulder gently, knowing that Callie was finally calm and asleep. 

“Is Callie okay? Are you okay?” 

“We’re both fine. But that one man’s got one hell of a cut on his hand.” Jack stopped and watched the crosswalk light. 

“Why did Callie scratch him?” 

“Dumbass grabbed them by the tail and swung them around.” 

“Dumbass.” Signe scoffed. 

“Like I said.” Jack chuckled as he saw the ‘walk’ light and started crossing. “I don’t know what-” Jack suddenly leaped back and fell to his rear when a car sped by in front of him. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing!?” Jack screamed after the car. “Fucking, asshole,” Jack mumbled as he got up to get out of the street, feeling Callie lightly tapping the back of his neck to let him know that they were okay. “Where’s my phone?” He asked out loud. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want the other person on the line to hear me.” Jack stiffened when he saw a young woman wearing a gray shirt and jeans standing in front of him, holding his phone. “You’ll get it back after I’m done speaking, I promise.” The woman stated. 

“I don’t need my phone.” Jack grabbed the straps of his bag and was prepared to run. 

“Please don’t take off, you’ll get ran over.” The woman pointed and showed Jack that traffic was heavy and the crosswalk light was on red. “You already almost did. Sorry about that, but I needed to get your attention without drawing attention to myself.”

“So you almost killed me to not make a scene? Wouldn’t a dead body be a lot more noticeable than you calling for me?”  

“We work weirdly.” 

“We?” 

“You’ll know soon enough. I’m just here to inform you that you need to keep your magical creature under wraps or we’ll have to do something  _ drastic _ .” The woman held up a fireball as she said the last word, quickly putting it out. 

“Are you threatening me?” 

“If that’s what it takes to prevent you from exposing the world to magic, then yes, I am.” 

“Fine, whatever. I’ll keep Callie at home from now on.” Jack opened his hand toward the woman. “My phone?” 

“What do you know of Vince?” Jack gritted his teeth. 

“My. Phone.” 

“He’s mentioned you many times. Are you an accomplice of his?”

“Give me my phone and fuck off!” Jack snapped. 

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’.” The woman placed Jack’s phone in his hand. “I have a feeling we’ll be seeing each other a lot, Jack,” Jack said nothing and watched the woman disappear. He shook his head and looked at his phone, seeing that it was on contacts and a new one was added.

_ Nina _


	10. Numbers

Jack was sitting with his legs crossed on his bed and watched as Signe paced his room, his phone in her hand. She stopped, raised a finger and opened her mouth, but put her hand back down and closed her mouth, returning to her pacing. Jack chewed the inside of his lip and was trying to think of something to say. 

“Nina.” Signe suddenly said. 

“Yeah…” Jack wished he could contribute a little more than just that. 

“She has to be a magic being, how else could she have done what she did?” Signe placed Jack’s phone down on his desk and went over to the bed, pressing her hands into the mattress. “The big question is if she’s on our side or Vince’s.” 

“She’s on the Magic Society’s side,” Jack stated. “The only reason she spoke to me was because Callie got out and she had to clean up the mess. She was just a messenger.” 

“Why would a messenger give you her number?” Signe raised a brow. 

“A lot of things haven’t been making sense ever since Vince came into our lives.” Jack sighed. 

“I wonder if I could track the number,” Signe said out loud and returned to Jack’s desk, sitting down in the chair. 

“Do you know how to do that?” 

“Google is our best friend.” Signe chuckled as she started clicking. 

“The area code isn’t from here,” Jack said after getting up and joining Signe, looking at his phone while putting his hands on Signe’s shoulder. 

“Um…” Signe clicked several more keys before rubbing her forehead and letting out a groan. 

“Are you okay?” Jack asked, gently massaging his girlfriend’s shoulders. 

“The number isn’t real.” Jack blinked in confusion and looked at the screen, seeing that Signe was right. 

“Why would she give me a fake number? If she just wanted me to know her name she could have just said so.” 

“Could there just be one magical person whose intentions are clear!?” Signe snapped, letting out a huff and covering her face with her hands. 

“At least we now know where Alec stands...kind of.” Jack muttered the last part. 

“He’s a doctor. He’s doing his job and I’m glad he is. I’m glad you’re getting help.” Signe gave Jack a small smile. 

“Aw, someone cares about me.” Jack teased, giving Signe a hug and rocking her a little. “My little woosher doosher.”

“Jack.” Signe sang, a warning in her voice. 

“Yes, my tiny voosh?” Signe looked up at Jack and stuck out her tongue. “Would you look at my tiny anger ball.”  

“I’ll show you a tiny anger ball.” Signe removed Jack’s arms and started to scratch at the man’s sides, earning some laughter. “What happened to not being ticklish?” 

“N-Not fair.” Jack curled up a little before suddenly sticking his arms out and grabbing Signe by the waist. Signe squealed as she was lifted and tossed onto the bed. 

“Ha, ha!” Jack said triumphantly as he leaped on the bed, pinning Signe’s wrists down with his hands. “Whatcha gonna do now, wishy-whoosy?” Signe just scrunched up her face before sticking her tongue back out and blew a raspberry, getting spit on Jack’s face. “Gross.” Jack wiped his face off with the back of his hand. 

“Ha, ha!” Signe mocked before going back to tickling Jack. 

“Tiner O-One.” Jack laughed before dropping his weight down. 

“Seán!” Signe squeaked. 

“Yes, my little squishy wishy?” Jack pushed himself up on his elbows and winked at Signe before giving her a kiss, earning a giggle.  

“God, you two are disgusting.” Jack immediately launched himself off of the bed while Signe grabbed the book that was sitting on the smaller dresser next to the bed and chucked it at Vince. The book went through Vince and the man just rolled his eyes. “I’m not actually here, remember?” 

“What do you want?” Jack demanded. 

“Besides being a perv.” Signe huffed as she sat up and adjusted her shirt. 

“Please, if I wanted to watch that kind of stuff, I’d at least use attractive people.” Vince scoffed. 

“You better be thankful you’re not here or else I’d rip off your-” 

“Like you’d be able to.” Vince interrupted. 

“Do you actually want something or are you just here to be an asshole?” Jack snapped. 

“How’s Nina?” Vince changed attitudes. 

“Is there anyone you don’t know?” Signe crossed her arms. 

“She’s a part of the Magic Society and I’m currently in their asylum. How do I not know them?” Vince sighed. “They just  _ love  _ their nutjobs. You’ll probably end up being their favorite.” Vince said to Jack, a large smirk on his face. 

“I’m not going to end up there. I’m not you.” Jack stated.

“Yeah. Sure you’re not.” 

“What. Do. You. Want.” Jack hit every word with force. 

“I’m just here to give you a little warning.” Vince put his hands behind his back and started slowly strolling along Jack’s room. 

“We already know that you’re an assoholic bitch.” 

“Do you know that Nina is?” Vince used his head to gesture towards Jack’s phone. “She almost got you ran over.” 

“You have no room to talk about that, you tried to kill me, Signe, Mark, Bob, Wade, Felix.” Jack counted off the names with his fingers. 

“The Magic Society has ended the lives of thousands a year.” Jack stopped when Vince said that. “Killing someone is nothing to them. Just a simple snap of their fingers to stop their hearts and twenty minutes worth of paperwork and magic casting and boom, the person never existed.“ Vince chuckled and shook his head. “Let’s do some math, shall we?” Some smoke started to come out of Vince’s head and formed the number three above him. “So, every twenty minutes, they can erase and kill someone. So that’s three people an hour.” A small ‘x’ and an eight appeared next to the three. “Let’s say they do this for about eight hours. Just a simple nine to five job for them.” The three, ‘x’, and eight became one ball and the number twenty-four took their place. “That’s twenty-four people they kill and erase a day, not a large number, but it gets worse.” Another ‘x’ and the number three-hundred and sixty-four was now next to the twenty-four. “They do this every single day for a year.” The numbers and letter were once again a ball of smoke and an even larger number was left. “Eight thousand, seven hundred and sixty people are killed and erased. Let’s be generous and say that they only do half of that.” The large number grew a little as the numbers shifted and soon a new number took its place. “Four-thousand, three hundred and eighty people. And that’s with me using the best case scenario.” 

“You’ve killed as well,” Signe said. “You’re just as bad as them.” 

“I’ve ended the lives of maybe thirty, forty, people. A lot of my creatures are actually duplicates to make my army look larger than what it actually is. I might be in the double digits of death, but their best case has four digits and their worse has five or maybe even more since I don’t know precisely how long it takes for them to erase all memory of someone and they could kill more than one at a time but their memories aren’t gone for a little bit. Am I really as bad as them? Or do you just not like me?” Signe and Jack said nothing, both looking away from Vince. “I suggest being extra careful around those fucks. They know nothing of mercy unless it benefits them.” Vince suddenly stiffened and turned his head. “Shit.” He cursed before disappearing. 

“Jack…” Signe said softly after a long moment of silence. “How would you feel about visiting Mark?” 

“What?” Jack asked. 

“I don’t feel safe here without more people. Too much has happened here and I just want to leave.” Signe was now holding her knees to her chest. 

“Let me make a few calls and talk with Mark if we can’t crash at his place, I’ll find a hotel or something.” Jack hugged Signe. “I promise nothing will happen to you.” 

“And you? Do you promise that nothing will happen to you?” Jack didn’t give a response. “Jack, please!” 

“Signe, I’ll try my best.” 

“What does that mean!?” 

“I-” Jack was cut off by his phone ringing, the song not being what usually played when Jack was called and was instead windchimes.  

“When did you change your ringtone?” Signe asked, fear in her voice. 

“I didn’t.” Jack released Signe and went to his desk, reading the Caller ID. “It’s Nina.”

“Don’t answer it,” Signe said. “Let her leave a voicemail so we have recorded proof.” Jack and Signe both stared at the phone until it stopped ringing. 

“I’m calling Alec.” Jack picked up his phone. “And if all works with him, I’ll book the first flight to California and we’ll be out here as soon as possible.” 

“I’m going to start packing.” Signe stood, gave Jack a quick peck on the cheek before leaving, popping her head back in. “Don’t do anything stupid, please.” 

“I love you.” Was all Jack said. 


	11. Voicemail

“Aw, aren’t you a sweetheart?” Signe giggled as Mark took her suitcase out of the car and started to carry it in. 

“He tries.” Amy winked as she looped her arm with Signe’s and walked with her. 

“I don’t think I can thank you enough for this, Mark,” Jack said, wheeling his own suitcase behind him. 

“Nope, nope. No need to thank me. You’d do the same for me if I were in your shoes.” Mark waved his hand as he spoke. 

“I could at least pay ya.” 

“Now, you cut that out. You two are staying in my guest room and I don’t want to hear any more about it.” Mark gave Jack a pat on the back. “But we do need to have a talk soon.” 

“I’ll fill you in, I promise. How have you and Amy been?” Jack asked as they entered the front door of the house. 

“We’ve been doing good. Some days are harder than others, but we’ll get through this. All of us will.” 

“We should give, Wade, Bob, and Felix a call. I’m sure they want the rest of the story as well and I forgot to call them before heading over. Packing and figuring out scheduling with Alec and all of that has taken up a lot of time. I didn’t upload yesterday and the fandom is flipping out. I need to send a tweet or make a Tumblr post or something.” 

“You unpack. I’ll make a post for you. Take your time.” Mark started to go up a flight of stairs. 

“Seriously, man. You’re a lifesaver.” Jack followed Mark and noticed that Amy and Signe weren’t behind them anymore.  

“Tyler and Ethan are coming over soon to discuss some future videos,” Mark said while heading towards a bedroom with its door open. 

“You’re not doing another “Who Killed Markiplier” thing again, are you?” Jack chuckled. “Give your fans some time to breathe.” 

“Not yet. We’re thinking of doing an advertisement for our next charity stream, just a quick minute video of something stupid or something like that.” Mark threw the suitcase on top of the bed and suddenly let out a loud sigh as Jack did the same. 

“You alright?” 

“Vince,” Mark said softly. 

“Mark, is everything okay?” Jack felt his stomach turn as Mark rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand. 

“Vince has been fucking with my head lately. I haven’t properly slept in weeks.” Mark looked over his shoulder to make sure that they were alone. “I told Amy to take Signe to the kitchen or somewhere so I could talk to you privately. Amy doesn’t know what Vince has been doing to me because I don’t want her to get worked up. I don’t want her to stress out more than what she already is.” 

“What is Vince doing?” Jack tensed up as he spoke, anger boiling inside of him. 

“My night terrors are acting up more than ever and Vince has been appearing when I wake from them, showing me horrific images of what happened when we got back from his world. I can feel him stabbing me, over and over again, every time he shows his face and I fucking hate it.” Mark put a hand on his side. “I have never cared about my scars before. I’ve shown them without a second thought to my fans and to others. But I can’t even look at that one without wanting to throw up.” Jack didn’t know what to say and decided to hug his friend. “You’re such a sap.” Mark teased.

“Shut up and take my hug like a man.” Jack chuckled. 

“Yes, sir.” Mark hugged Jack back. 

“Aw.” Jack and Mark both jumped away from each other in shock and saw that Amy and Signe were standing at the door. 

“Aren’t you two adorable?” Amy giggled. 

“Whoever said I was adorable? I’m a man, a manly man.” Mark started flexing and waddling over towards Amy. 

“Oh yes, a real manly man,” Amy said with a mocking tone. 

“I’ll show you how much of a man I am,” Mark said and went after Amy when she took off. 

“What did Mark talk to you about?” Signe asked, entering the room. 

“We just chatted.” Jack shrugged and started to unzip his bag 

“Jack, honey.” Signe placed her hand on the suitcase. “You know I can see right through you.” 

“Vince has been messing with him as well,” Jack admitted. 

“Well, there’s more of us here now, we’ll be safer together,” Signe said, putting her hand on Jack’s. 

“As long as I have you, I’ll always be safe.” Jack lifted Signe’s hand and kissed it. 

“Aren’t you just a charmer?” Signe pulled Jack closer to her. 

“I try.” Jack held Signe’s cheek and gave her a kiss. They parted when they heard loud knocking. 

“I got it!” Mark yelled from below. Jack rolled his eyes and felt his back pocket vibrate. 

“I’m going to get a snack, want anything?” Signe asked. 

“I’ll come down after I check my phone.” Jack pecked Signe on the lips and watched as she left. Jack hummed as he pulled out his phone, a frown forming on his face when he saw that the voicemail from Nina was on display. He did not appreciate having a magic number on his phone. Jack sighed and played the voicemail, pressing the phone to his ear. He chewed on his lip as he listened, slowly releasing his lips and eyes getting wider and wider as the message ended. The last sentence making his heart drop. “Shit.” Jack quickly sprinted out of the room and downstairs. 

“Hey, Jack.” Ethan greeted from the top of Tyler’s shoulders. 

“You alright?” Mark asked from the ground, lying between Tyler’s legs. 

“Nina,” Jack said to Signe, who was standing at the end of the room with Amy. 

“Nina? Who’s Nina?” Tyler asked as Mark crawled away from him and Ethan hopped off. Jack didn’t answer and played the voicemail instead, putting it on speaker. 

“Hello, Seán, this is Nina. As a member of the Magical Society, it is my job to inform you that we have resources here for you to use in order to learn how to control your magic if you want. The only payment for using our resources if to become a member yourself. Give me a call if you wish to learn how to cast spells. Now that I got that formal shit done with, I have more news for you, Jack. I could teach you everything you could ever want with magic and not join the Society. You’ll just have to do me a few favors. I suggest choosing one or the other, magic doesn’t like to be held back when it’s finally been released. I saw what you did to heal Callie and Mark, people never really notice the nurses, do they?” Nina let out a laugh. “I bet your thoughts are racing. You’ve got Vince telling you we’re terrible people, Alec telling you to avoid us and focus on yourself and now you’ve got me telling you that you have to choose one or the other or deal with the Magic Society coming down on your ass. Also, when your friend learns about their magic abilities as well, let me know. Goodbye Jack. And you have a month to answer.” 

Everyone was silent when the message ended. They all stared at the phone with their mouths open in shock. 

“Who else has magic?” Mark asked softly.  


	12. Push Me

“I can’t believe this! I just can’t!” Ethan shouted as he walked in a circle.

“Ethan, sit down,” Tyler said from the couch he, Mark and Amy were on.

“How do you expect me to sit down!? I am literally losing my mind here!” Ethan rubbed his head.

“Welcome to my life.” Jack groaned from the other couch. He was laying on his back with his head in Signe’s lap, the woman gently running her hands through his hair.

“It’s crazy enough to know that there’s magic in the world, but Jack’s a fucking wizard!?” Ethan threw his hands out.

“Spellcaster.” Jack corrected, getting a loud ‘huh’ from Ethan. “The proper title that they use is a spellcaster. It’s gender neutral and it can be applied to anyone that has magic.”

“How do you know this!?” Ethan exclaimed.

“My therapist told me. He’s one of them.” Jack stated.

“What the actual flying fuck!?” Ethan returned to his circling.

“Wait. Alec.” Jack sat up and took his phone back out, dialing it.

“If you don’t sit down, I’m making you sit,” Tyler warned.

“I’ll get the rope.” Mark lightly joked while Amy put her head on his shoulder.

“Hey, I know our next appointment isn’t for a few days, but would you be able to come over today?” Jack said into the phone.

“Isn’t he in Ireland? How is he-” Amy’s question was cut off by Alec appearing in the room next to Ethan. The man let out a yelp and fell over, scrambling away from Alec.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Alec said as he helped Ethan to his feet. “Is everything okay, Jack?” He asked as Ethan went over to a chair and sat down, stunned.

“Have a listen.” Jack tossed his phone to Alec and everyone watched Alec’s face as he heard the voicemail, scaring them a little when there was no reaction. “Alec, what are you hiding now?”

“I’m not hiding anything. You know who I am and who I work for. I was just praying that Nina would never be assigned to you in case things got out of hand.” Alec let out a scoff. “I should have known that you walking around with Callie was going to end up badly. I should have told you to leave them at home.” As if Callie knew they were being spoken of, they scurried down the stairs and ran into the living room, jumping into Jack’s lap. They spun around a few times before curling up into a ball and napping.

“Wait, if you’re magic. Why can’t you just cast a cloaking spell on Callie or something?” Tyler asked.

“Callie is a world being that was created by Vince. I am unable to use any magical properties on it as long as Vince lives because when he goes, so does Callie.”

“What!?” Jack shouted, his voice echoing in the room.

“Callie is made of Vince’s magic and when Vince dies his magic dies and anything created or formed by his magic dies.” Alec scratched his jaw as he spoke. “I thought you knew that when you spared Vince’s life, I believed that to be the ultimate reason for not killing him.”

“Well, it fucking wasn’t!” Jack snapped. “Oh my God!” Jack buried his face in his hands.

“You thought that I didn’t kill Vince because I cared for Callie!? You thought that I would have killed him!? That I was capable of ending someone’s life!?” Jack screamed.

“Jack, we can speak in private if you or the others need.” Alec gestured towards the others. Mark and Tyler looked very uncomfortable, Amy was hiding in her hands, Ethan was slumped very deeply in the chair and Signe was looking at Jack with fear in her eyes.

“I am not a monster. I do not kill people.” Was all Jack said before he stood and left the room, going into the bathroom.

“You know, as a therapist, you sure do love pissing Jack off,” Mark stated, giving Alec a hard glare.

“My job is to push him. To make him go to places he refuses to go because that’s how CPT works. Suffering from flashbacks means that you are reliving that moment over and over again as if you were there, it is not a memory at that moment. It’s reality. He is forced to relive that terrible moment. That thought of wanting to kill Vince. To end someone’s life because of the most disgusting form of anger you could ever have. My job is to help him get away from that. My job is to make sure he knows that what happened has passed, that he no longer feels that rage, that fear, that panic. My job is to help. And sadly, my job makes everything worse before it gets better.” Everyone turned their heads when they heard a loud clicking, seeing that Jack had left the bathroom and saw staring at the ground.

“I hate it,” Jack stated.

“No one likes that part,” Alec said softly.

“I hate it so much.” Jack slowly walked back over to the couch and sat back down, letting Signe put his head back in her lap.

“What does he hate?” Amy asked. “Or are we not allowed to know?”

“That’s up to Jack. I’ve already crossed my professional line and will not say more without Jack’s consent.” Alec crossed his arms.

“Go ahead.” Jack murmured.

“Are you sure?” Alec asked, getting a head nod for an answer. “To put it simply, he had to write out what happened in detail and read it every night.”

“Holy shit.” Mark cursed.

“That has to suck,” Tyler said.

“It’s fine.” Jack sat back up again, patting Signe’s thigh to let her know that he was okay. “I called you for a different reason. Nina said in the voicemail that I need to be trained or my magic will get out of hand, is that true?”

“Yes and there’s a reason why Nina’s giving you a month to decide.” Alec held a hand out, a calendar and line graph appeared in the air. “The day you healed Callie and Mark was when your magic was first released.” A red dot showed on the day Alec spoke of. “And over time your magic will build up if not used regularly or contained properly.” As the dot moved along the days, the line graph started to go up, showing that the number was growing. “Eventually, if the magic is left alone it’ll…” Both the calendar and graph popped into a red puff of smoke.

“What is it with you guys and fucking smoke charts?” Jack huffed as he got up and waved the red cloud away. “Vince’s numbers were annoying enough, I don’t need you doing it too.”

“Sorry, a lot of people appreciate a visual representation of what I’m talking about, I’ll take note of that.” Alec snapped his fingers and a clipboard and pen appeared in his hands.

“That’s going to take a good while to get used to,” Ethan said while Alec wrote something down and dropped the clipboard and pen, both disappearing into the air.

“What do I do? You told me yourself to avoid the Magic Society and Nina’s a major bitch, what do I do about my magic and what about the other person when they discover their magic? What do I do?”

“I’ll train you,” Alec stated. Jack let out several sounds of gibberish. “Magic has a huge effect on the mind, I’m already helping you with one aspect of it, helping you with the other will only make my job easier in the long run and I’m willing to help your friend as well.”

“Holy shit.” Jack put his hands on his head in disbelief.

“I’m going to give you this warning first before you agree. You’re going to be pushed a lot doing both CPT and Spellcaster training. Both take a lot of out of you mentally and emotionally. I just want to let you know that it’s going to be very hard on you until both are done.” Alec said.

“I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Jack didn’t wait for a response. “You said that CPT gets worse before it gets better and I’ve accepted that. I’ve accepted that life is a little more fucked up now than it ever has been. I’ve accepted that life will never be normal ever again and I’m ready.”

“Are you sure?” Signe said. “Don’t get yourself hurt.”

“I’m sure.” Jack puffed his chest out a little and looked Alec in the eyes. “Push me.”


	13. Training

Jack screamed as he ran away from the fireball chasing him. he ran around the edge of the empty, doorless, circular room while Alec stood in the center, hand pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You're supposed to absorb it, not run from it." Alec sighed.

"I don't know how!" Jack protested.

"I just showed you!" Alec snapped.

"It didn't work!" Jack snapped back.

"You need to face it!"

"No!"

"You can't just run away from all your problems!" Jack was running towards Alec and stopped in front of the man when he said that.

“Fucking watch me,” Jack stated before ducking, fireball heading straight for Alec. Alec simply raised his hand up and the fireball went into his palm. Jack was sitting on the ground at this point, panting. “Well, at least we got your cardio done for the day.” Alec clapped his hands to clean them off, ash coming off of them.

“I’m so...tired.” Jack gasped.

“We’ll call it quits after you can absorb some magic. This ability is most useful when fighting another Spellcaster.” Alec held a hand out. “Now, get up.” Jack groaned as he was lifted to his feet. It was only day one and he was already sick of this. “How about we start off smaller this time?”

“Oh, now you wanna start small?” Jack huffed.

“You have a month before Nina comes after you and then we’ll have the Magic Society after that. You need to learn everything or at least as much as you can as fast as you can. I’m here to help, but I can only do so much.” Alec grabbed Jack’s hand and held it palm up.

“How long did you know that I was magic?” Jack suddenly asked.

“Since you walked into the building that first day,” Alec answered as he snapped his fingers, a small flame appearing on his finger.

“Why didn’t you say anything? Why haven’t you helped me with magic before?” Alec didn’t say anything and placed the fire in Jack’s hand. “Alec.” Still nothing. “Alec!” The fire grew a little.

“Because I planned on taking it away,” Alec said softly. This time it was Jack’s turn not to say anything. “Suffering from PTSD and having magic is a terrible combination. Magic already takes a lot out of you if you don’t keep track of it and adding any form of mental illness can almost make it impossible.”

“Take it away?” Jack spoke the only part he heard.

“It’s a very difficult spell, it takes a ton of energy and if not done properly it can cause a lot of damage both physically and mentally to the person who cast it and on the one who it was cast on.” Alec watched the flame, seeing that it was maintaining its size. “It’s actually easier to kill the person and erase all memory of them, but I can’t do that, not anymore.” The flame grew into the size of Jack’s palm.

“Anymore?” Jack’s eyes were wide. “You’ve killed?”

“I didn’t have a choice. The Magic Society forces you to do things you don’t want in order to prove your loyalty and you’re either loyal...or dead.” Jack could clearly see the pain and regret on Alec’s face. He could tell that something was eating at him.

“What did they make you do?” Jack asked.

“This is not about me. I’m here to help and train you.”

“Alec, please. I’ve told you everything, you can tell me.”

“They made me kill my husband.” Jack’s heart stopped and the flame grew even more. “He was one of a kind. He was strong, smart and his magic was endless.” Alec shook his head and smiled as he said that. “And they pushed him. They pushed him and pushed him until his mind snapped.” There was now a snarl on Alec’s lips. “They broke him. They shattered the man I loved...and I begged to be the one to take care of him. I tried to cast the spell that would take away his magic, that would save him...but it didn’t work...he was too far gone and died in my arms.” The flame on Jack’s hand went into him and he gave Alec a hug.

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Jack said, voice cracking.

“Don’t apologize,” Alec said as he gently moved Jack away from him. “It’s not your fault. It’s the Magic Society's. They will pay. One day, but I have work to do first. We have work to do first.”

“Is what happened to your husband why you chose this line of work? Sorry if I’m being rude, I-”

“You’re fine asking questions. I’ve asked you endless, very deep and very personal questions and it’s fair to want to ask your own and yes, it is. I’ve seen the terrible outcome of what magic can do to the head when left untreated or pushed too far. I don’t want anyone else to have to go through what I did.” Alec let out a light grunt when Jack hugged him again, a strong warmth coming off of his body. “Jack...you’re overheating me.”

“Oh, sorry.” Jack quickly moved his hands away and hopped back.

“You’ve definitely figured out how to absorb magic, now let’s do that consciously.” Alec took several steps away from Jack and flicked his fingers, a fireball now in his hand. “Catch.” Jack’s entire face stretched out in fear as he caught the ball, holding it with both hands. “You know what to do. Do it.”

“Okay…” Jack tilted his head as he stared at the flames, taking in a deep breath and releasing it. He looked up at Alec, smirked and closed his hand, the fire gone. “Did I do it?” Jack’s smirk turned into a questioning smile.

“You did.” Alec chuckled.

“Fucking, yes!” Jack cheered, jumping around.

“Hey, Jack.” Alec sang. Jack hummed in a response and yelped when Alec suddenly shot a fireball at him. Jack quickly held his hand up and the fire went into his palm just like Alec’s had done earlier. Jack’s eyes with wide with joy.

“I did it! I fucking did it!” Jack screamed, throwing his hands around before starting to hop in place. “Do it again! Hit me with ice or with electricity or something fucking dope!” Jack put his hands on his face and gasped. “I have to show Signe! She’d be fucking amazed by this! And Mark and Amy and Ethan and Tyler and Bob and Wade and Felix and Rob-”

“Jack, breathe. Let’s get you back to Mark’s home and we’ll continue tomorrow. Don’t you have a video to make?

“Oh shit!” Jack looked around for the door, forgetting where he was for a moment. He rushed over to Alec and grabbed his arm.

“You sure are something, Jack.” Alec laughed before snapping his finger, both men disappearing.


	14. Spam

“Fuck you and fuck you and fuck you,” Jack said with a light laugh as he blasted fireballs at hanging pieces of paper, hitting every one of them either close to or directly in the center. 

“Your aim is a lot better,” Alec commented, sitting in a chair in the center of the training room. 

“Check this out!” Jack faced Alec and clapped his hands together, an ice shard forming between his palms as he pulled them apart. “I practiced the shit out of this last night.” Jack chuckled as he tossed the shard back and forth between his hands. Alec smiled and shook his head as he stood. 

“You’ve been doing great these past few weeks, but there’s still plenty to learn.” Alec held his hands behind his back as he spoke. “You’ve managed to learn the basics so far. And I wish we knew exactly when Nina will come after you and have more time since it’s bound to be very soon, but we can start working on some more powerful spells tomorrow, hopefully, we’ll get enough done.”  

“We got this, man!” Jack started using the shard as if it was a sword. “You can kick ass and I’m very close to being the ultimate kick-ass.”

“Don’t get too cocky,” Alec warned. “Do you want to try taking us back today?” He added, holding his arm out. 

“Yes!” Jack rushed over to Alec and grabbed the man’s arm, squeezing his eyes shut. There was a rush of magic that traveled from Jack’s chest to the ends of his fingers and toes and when he reopened his eyes, he groaned when he found that they were in the bathroom. “Every time,” Jack grumbled. 

“Do you have to use the restroom or something? Sometimes needs can change how spells work.” Alec started leaving the bathroom. 

“No...wait.” Jack stepped back and closed the door with Alec outside of it. 

“I’ve told you how many times to go before we train?” Alec said towards the door. 

“Not now, mom,” Jack said back, voice a little muffled.  

“I’ll go inform the others that we’re back and I’ll head back home. I’ll see you tomorrow Jack and don’t forget to do your assignment tonight.” Alec knocked on the door with a knuckle. 

“Yes, mom.” Jack sang.

“Make sure to wash your hands, dear.” Alec teased, laughing a little at Jack’s curses while he walked away. “Hello there, Callie, how are we?” Alec asked the small creature that had crawled up his back and onto his shoulder. Callie nuzzled their face into Alec’s neck and let out a soft chirp. “You’re upset, what’s wrong?” Calle sat back up and looked at the bathroom door, chirping softly again. “You’re worried about him, aren’t you?” Callie nodded their head, facing Alec again. Alec glanced at the door when he heard the toilet flush. “Callie, I promise I will do everything in my power to keep him safe.” Callie tilted their head and used their clawed finger to gently make an ‘x’ on their chest. “Yes, I cross my heart and hope to die.” Alec scratched under Callie’s chin. “I need to go-” Callie’s stomach growled. “And you need to eat.” Callie nodded with more energy before leaping off of Alec’s shoulder. 

“I thought you were going?” Jack said when he opened the door and saw Alec. 

“Callie wanted to say hello,” Alec stated, heading down the hall with Jack. 

“That’s it?” 

“They also worry about you. They made me cross my heart and hope to die to make sure that I’d try my best to protect you.”  

“What’s up?” Jack noticed the look on Alec’s face. 

“I’m still attempting to understand how Callie formed such a strong bond with you. They’re Vince’s creature. I’ll have to do some research into it.”

“Jack!? Jack are you back!?” Signe’s voice came from the living room. 

“Dude, get in here!” Mark shouted as well. Jack and Alec both took off, seeing that Signe was looking at her phone while Mark and Amy were looking at a computer. 

“What’s wrong?” Jack asked, going over to Signe while Alec joined Mark and Amy at the computer.  

“We’re getting spammed,” Mark stated as he scrolled through his newest video’s comments. 

“All of us.” Singe added, going through her own comments as well. Jack quickly took out his phone and pulled up yesterday's video, seeing that the comments were the same as Mark’s and Signe’s. 

“One day.” Alec read the comment out loud. 

“Nina the Spellcaster.” Signe scoffed. “How creative of an account name.” 

“People are freaking out about this, look at Tumblr.” Mark clicked on a different tab and showed that his tag on Tumblr was filled with people posting and talking about the thousands and thousands of comments and replies to other comments that only said ‘one day’. 

“She’s just trying to scare us,” Alec said. 

“Well, it’s working.” Amy was rubbing her temple. 

“She’s made her point, she’ll stop.” Alec took a step back. 

“Fuck! She’s spamming Twitter too!” Jack snapped. 

“And she’s now properly spamming Tumblr,” Signe added. 

“Wade’s calling,” Mark said when his Skype went off. “And Bob and Felix.” He added as he answered their calls. 

“Why the fuck is Nina fucking with my comments, my twitter, and my Tumblr?” Felix asked the moment his face appeared on the screen. 

“She’s doing the same to mine,” Wade said. 

“Same here.” Bob sounded exhausted. 

“We’ve never met the bitch, she doesn’t even know who we are and she’s fucking with us?” Felix huffed. 

“Nina does her research, she knows who all of you are,” Alec said. “But none of us is to panic. That is just what she wants. We-” Rapid knocking on the door interrupted Alec.  

“Mark, Nina’s spamming all of my social media,” Ethan said when he opened the door.

“I don’t even make videos and my YouTube channel is getting spammed,” Tyler exclaimed as he followed Ethan. “Plus my twitter and Tumblr are going nuts.” 

“Looks like the family’s together.” Bob scoffed. 

“I know Robin, I promise it’ll stop after today. She’s just trying to fuck with us.” Jack said into the phone. “Don’t respond, don’t block, don’t do anything to those comments or that channel. You need to stay out of this as much as possible. I’ll send you some footage later today, just focus on yourself and we’ll take care of everything. Goodbye.” Jack dropped his phone on the couch before throwing himself on it, hands over his eyes. 

“Bob, you alright? You look really tense.” Mark said. 

“Why wouldn’t I be tensed!? Nina’s fucking with all of our social medias and fucking Vince appeared in my home a week ago, saying he was going to kill me and Mandy and neither of us has slept since then! I hate this! I fucking hate all of this!”

“Wait, last week? Tuesday?” Wade asked. 

“Yes, Tuesday.” 

“Vince did the same to me and Molly.” 

“Marzia sleeps with one of the kitchen knives under her pillow because of that,” Felix said. 

“That...that couldn’t have been Vince,” Alec said, making everyone go quiet and look at him. “Vince doesn’t want anything to do with Bob, Wade and Felix and their partners. He’s angriest at Jack and Mark, even then he doesn’t truly want death on you guys, he just wants to mess with you guys.” 

“That doesn’t make sense,” Mark said. 

“It’s kind of like with Joker and Batman, depending on the variation of them, but usually Joker doesn’t want to kill Batman because without Batman he’s nothing and it’s the same vice-versa. Without one, there would be no need for the other. Without Jack and Mark, Vince has no reason to exist at the moment. All he thinks about is getting back at you two, not kill you.” Alec explained. 

“I bet that means Vince and Nina would make the best of friends.” Felix threw his hands up as he spoke. 

“Actually, it’d be the opposite. Nina wants to use you or kill you if she can’t. Vince doesn’t want that...he wants you guys alive.” Alec’s eyes went wide in realization. 

“Why do I have a feeling that I don’t like what you’re thinking?” Signe said.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Jack’s entire body slumped as the words came out of his mouth. 


	15. Anti

Mark sat on his bed, guitar sitting on his lap as he plucked at the strings. He hummed to himself for a bit before taking in a deep breath and began to sing. 

“I’ve been beaten up, dragged down and hurt. I looked death in the eyes and walked out head first. I’m still here, I’m alive and you know why!” Mark belted out the last word and continued as he kept singing. “Cause I push through! I push through! I’m stronger than you! I push through! The war’s not over, but this battle is won! When the final sun has set, I’ll be the one standing tall! Cause I push through! I push through! Your time is due! I push through!” Mark strummed at the strings of his guitar, his lyrics running out, but still wanting to play. He eventually stopped and let out a sigh as he placed the guitar on his bed. 

“That was really good, man.” Mark looked up and saw that Amy and Jack were standing at the door. 

“You’ve improved so much since you started your lessons,” Amy said, holding his hands together in front of her face. 

“I came up here to tell ya that we’re leaving soon.”

“I’m coming with you,” Mark stated, standing up. 

“Mark, you don’t have to-”

“I need to. I have a few words for Vince.” 

“Okay, bring your Darkiplier tux.” Jack chuckled. 

“Why?” 

“We’re getting some payback on Vince.” 

_ x~x~x _

Vince sat in the center of the room, staring intensely at his hands. His illusion spells were working great, projecting his consciousness and being able to make simple projections took nothing out of him now. Vince kept staring until one of his pinkies twitched, a large smile forming on his face. A loud knocking on the glass wall snapped him out of his concentration. 

Vince’s mouth dropped when he saw who was knocking and his heart raced. The person looked like Jack, but there was no way that it was. The dark green hair, black eyes, pointed ears and large neck wound told him that it was the opposite of Jack. 

“Hello, there, Vincey-boy!” The man laughed after suddenly appearing in front of Vince, his body looking as if it was glitching as he sang. 

“No, no, no!” Vince fumbled away from the man. 

“What’s wrong, little guy?” The man laughed as he glitched around Vince, blocking him off on all sides. “Scared?” The man leaned towards Vince, flashing his sharp teeth. 

“Now, now, Anti. Don’t get too excited.” Vince let out a shout and scrambled to his feet, hitting the back of his knees on his bed and falling on to it. A man who looked like Mark but with gray skin and a red and blue aura coming off of him walked through the glass wall and adjusted his suit jacket. “We need him alive.” 

“He’ll be alive or at least, close to it.” ‘Anti’ grinned as a knife appeared in his hand. “Let a man have his fun, Dark.”

“Shit!” Vince cried out as he jumped off of the bed and ending up running face-first into the wall. Both ‘Anti’ and ‘Dark’ laughed when Vince collapsed to the ground, holding his now bleeding nose. “Shit, shit, shit,” Vince said. 

“Allow me to say a few words to you before I let my...friend here, have their fun.” ‘Dark’ slowly walked over towards Vince, each step deliberate and his aura growing as he held his hands behind his back. Vince quickly got to his feet and felt his back press against the wall as ‘Dark’ got very close to him. “Words have a large effect on the mind. Promises, threats, compliments, insults, all of these can be used to change the way someone thinks, how someone acts but.” The gray-skinned man raised one of his hands. “Violence can also be used if words won’t work.” Vince let out a soft yelp when the hand was put on his neck. “I have a question for you, am I going to need to use violence?” The hand slowly pushed harder and harder into Vince’s neck. “I usually don’t like to get my hands dirty, but I’ll make an exception for you.” Vince was trembling a little bit by this point. 

“Ha!” Vince slide down to his rear when he was released and his eyes were wide in disbelief when the two men started laughing loudly. “That was awesome!” ‘Anti’ held his sides from laughing so hard. 

“My Improv lessons are paying off.” ‘Dark’ was clapping his hands. 

“Alright, you two have had your fun,” Alec stated as he entered the room. 

“What?” Vince said softly as he watched who he believed to be Anti and Dark walk back through the glass and high-five each other. “What!?” He screamed and returned to his feet when the men’s body’s changed back into Jack and Mark. “How fucking dare you!?” Vince punched the glass wall. 

“Payback for my night terrors, bitch!” Mark held his arms out and puffed his chest. 

“What does your night terrors have to do with me!? I have nothing to do with those!” Vince snapped. 

“You’ve been showing up at my house and fucking with my head! You’ve made them worse with those fucking images!” Mark snapped back. 

“And the Magic Society is on my ass because you stepped out in front of a bus and exposed Callie!” Jack added.

“I never did that! I didn’t do either of those!” Vince pressed his forehead against the glass. “I can only project myself near Jack because of his connection to Callie.” He said, sounding as if it hurt him to admit that. “I can also only show images of basic shapes and numbers, like hell I could show you shit that would fuck with your night terrors.” Vince lifted his head and glared at Alec. “You out of all people should know how far along in my magic that I am.”

“You have a tendency to lie,” Alec stated. “I can never tell what’s real and what’s fake with you.” 

“Do you think I want to admit that I still have little control over my magic!? Do you think I want to stand here and realize that I can’t tell what’s real and what’s magic!? I’m still fucking shaking because of that Dark and Anti bullshit you two pulled on me!” 

“How do you think we felt after what you did to us?” Vince’s shoulders slumped when Jack said that. “We’re still affected by that every single day and we’re working on getting better.” 

“Whatever.” Vince turned away from the men. 

“Vince, we’re here for a reason,” Alec said. 

“I don’t care.” 

“Vince, we need-”

“I don’t care!” 

“Vincent!” Vince stopped when Alec yelled his full name. 

“What. Do. You. Want.” Vince’s back was still to the others, but they could tell he was listening. 

“Nina.” 

“What about the bitch?” 

“She’s coming after us, tomorrow. We need to know everything you do about her.” 

“Why?” 

“Because I know you hate her more than you hate us.” There was a long pause before Vince spoke. 

“Fine. I’ll help.”  


	16. Returned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the final chapter of Returned.

“It’s okay, Chica. It’s all good, girl.” Mark was rubbing Chica’s head and cooing at her while Amy sat on the ground next to him. Jack was double-checking his suitcase that was sitting on the couch. 

“Why are you guys taking suitcases?” Signe asked, sitting on the end of the couch and helping Jack properly fold his clothes since he had just tossed everything in there. 

“It’s just cautionary, Alec told us to be prepared for anything,” Jack answered, pocketing his lighter.

“Are you planning a party or something?” Signe asked, holding a bottle of vodka in her hand.

“If everything goes well, I will throw the biggest party in the world.” Jack chuckled. 

“Should me and Amy pack a bag too? You’re making it look like we’re going to be gone a few days and I’m not wearing the same shirt for that long.” Signe laid a shirt inside of the suitcase, gently tucking it in. 

“You won’t need to worry about packing.” Jack’s voice was very soft. 

“Why not? Are you planning on buying me new clothes or something?” Signe noticed that Mark and Amy were quiet. 

“No…” Jack chewed on his lip.

“Why not?” Amy asked, giving Mark a stern look. Jack only shook his head, telling Mark that he wasn’t going to say it. “Mark? Is there something that we don’t know?”

“You’re not going,” Mark mumbled. 

“Excuse me!?” Amy snapped. 

“And neither is Signe,” Mark added.

“What do you mean I’m not going!?” Signe turned her glare from Mark to Jack. 

“It’s too dangerous,” Jack said, putting his hand on Signe’s and dropping his head when Signe pulled hers away. 

“There’s nothing more dangerous than an angry woman,” Signe stated. 

“I know, I know, but I can’t risk you getting hurt.” Jack brushed aside a strand of hair that got into Signe’s face, he could still remember the blood dripping down it when one of Vince’s creatures hit her. He could never let that happen again. 

“I can handle myself,” Signe said. 

“I can too,” Amy added to Mark, whose only response was to hug the woman. “Mark, this doesn’t get you out of the doghouse.” 

“I have met Death because of Vince and Nina has caused my night terrors to be the worse they’ve ever been since I was a child. I will not allow those assholes to cause any form of harm to you, not while I live and breathe.” Mark hugged Amy tighter as he finished his statement. 

“We’re still going,” Amy said. 

“Amy, please!” Mark pleaded, hands still on Amy’s shoulder as he pulled away. 

“I’m not letting you go without me, I need to be there for you.” Amy patted on Mark’s chest. “My big, strong man can only do so much by himself.” 

“You’re being unreasonable.” Mark groaned.

“You two are heading to fight off against someone who’s part of a group that kills people like it’s nothing and you expect us to just sit here and twiddle our thumbs?” Signe huffed. “That’s unreasonable.” 

“Then Mark will stay.” Jack said, earning a loud ‘what’ from the others. “Nina is only going after me, this is my fight and it’s selfish of me to bring anyone else into this.” 

“No, no, don’t pull that shit with me.” Mark stood up. “These magic fucks are fucking with you, which means they’re fucking with me and ain’t nobody fucking me without my fucking permission.” 

“That might have been the weirdest way to put it, but thanks, man.” Jack chuckled. 

“We need to leave, now,” Alec stated when he appeared in the room. “Nina’s on her way and I don’t think Mark wants his house on fire.” 

“We need to pack,” Amy said. 

“I’ll be just one moment,” Signe added as they ran off. 

“Let’s go.” Jack zipped his suitcase shut while Mark grabbed his. 

“But-”

“We need to go.” Mark made it very clear in his tone what they were talking about and Alec grabbed both of their shoulders. 

“Callie, keep an eye on them,” Jack said to the creature before they disappeared. 

Jack wasn’t expecting to see green when they came back into reality. They were in a large open field, meaning they were far away from civilization. This was it. He was going to do this. Jack’s entire body stiffened when he heard a chirp, a very familiar chirp. His heart leaped into his throat when he saw that Amy and Signe were on the ground down the field, they were both looking around, confused. 

“Did you bring them!?” Mark yelled at Alec. 

“How could I!? They weren’t touching me and teleporting someone without contact is a more difficult spell to cast and I need to save my magic.” Alec explained. 

“Then who-” 

“I thought that bringing certain people would help persuade you,” Nina said, appearing several yards away from the men. 

“Mark, get over to them,” Jack ordered. Mark looked at Nina before taking off, knowing it was best to listen to his friend. “Callie, go with him.” Callie shook their head. “Go!” The creature twitched their nose and took off as well, catching up to Mark and climbing up his back to sit on the man’s shoulder.  

“And, let’s add a few more to the mix.” Nina snapped her fingers, making Bob, Wade, and Felix appear with Amy and Signe. 

“What the fuck!?” Jack heard Felix scream.

“Leave them out of this!” Jack snapped. 

“They’re just here to show you what would happen if you don’t get trained by me.” Nina’s voice was overly sweet. “They’ll get hurt if you don’t get help. Isn’t that why you signed up for therapy? For them?”

“Jack has not given you information nor consent about his therapy, you are not to speak of it outside of a professional setting,” Alec said harshly. 

“Am I wrong?” Nina crossed her arms and chuckled. “Think about it, Jack. Everyone was upset with you, everyone worried for you, you suffered alone until you finally signed up for therapy with Alec here. I have to say, Alec, you picked a nice field to meet up, but if I recall correctly, I asked to meet your client in his home.” 

“He requested otherwise.” 

“That’s beside the point.” Nina turned her attention back to Jack. “Remember how much it sucked to be alone? How terrible it was to not have someone there to help you? How much it hurt? That’ll be you all over again if you don’t start getting trained now. I can help you and you can help me.” 

“Fuck off,” Jack stated. “You don’t want to help me, you just want to use me.” 

“I wouldn’t-”

“You’re a full-fledged member of the Magic Society, you can’t do certain things because you’re under their thumb. But they don’t even know that I exist. They don’t know who I am. I can do things that would get you in trouble and if I were to get caught-” Jack shrugged voice raising. “Oh, well.”

“You need me,” Nina stated, kindness dropping. 

“I need you to fuck off,” Jack stated back. 

“Without me, who would show you how to deal with this!” Nina threw a fireball towards Jack. Jack could hear his friends yelling, but he raised his hand, fireball going into his palm. He lowered his hand with a large grin on his face. 

“I don’t need you. No one needs you. Now, for the last time. Fuck. Off.” 

“Who taught you magic!?” Nina demanded, not getting a response. “Alec!? Did you!?” 

“I am under no legal requirement to either accept or decline that accusation,” Alec said very smugly. 

“Fight me, bitch.” Jack chuckled. “Also, Vince says hi.” 

“Vince…” Nina balled her hands into fists. “That spineless coward.” 

“Go. If you know what’s best for you.” Alec warned. “You’re outnumbered. You have two Spellcasters and six others against you. They might not be able to use magic, but they can sure as hell hold you down.” 

“Now, how is this fair?” Nina asked, putting her hands behind her back, shifting her shoulders in a way that made Jack feel uneasy. 

“When have you ever done anything fairly?” Alec huffed. 

“Point taken.” Nina quickly stuck a hand back out and fired a gun she was holding. The bullet went through Alec and the men fell over, motionless. 

“Alec!” Jack threw himself to his knees and covered the wound. 

“Jack! Look out!” Signe screamed while the others started running towards the two. Nina shot the gun towards the group, not hitting anyone but making them all go to the ground. 

“Let’s start this over, shall we!?” Nina yelled as she tossed the gun to the side. She stood a little wider before opening her arms out. Jack looked down and saw that there was a small ball forming under him. 

“Shit, shit, shit!” Jack cursed as he tried to pull Alec away with him. “Everyone, run!” 

“Goodbye! I might see you later!” Nina laughed before pushing both hands down, the ball becoming a large, black portal. 

“No!” Jack cried as he and everyone else fell through. All they saw was one color. Everything went gray as they were returned to when all of this began. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No need to fear, there will be another story called 'HiJacked'. It should begin within the next day or so.


End file.
